Retallick out of first test

Auckland: The All Blacks will open their test year without world-class lock Brodie Retallick, but hope to have the rest of their walking wounded fit to play against the French at Eden Park on Saturday night.

Coach Steve Hansen confirmed the 68-test Chiefs second-rower, who injured his pectoral muscle in Saturday night’s home 34-20 defeat to the Crusaders, was their only confirmed defection for the June series opener.

They are not sure of the extent of Retallick’s absence through the injury yet, but have removed him from the equation for the first week at least. Veteran Crusaders lock Luke Romano and impressive Highlanders second row Tom Franklin have both been drafted into the squad to bolster their stock of big men.

“I can’t tell you anything about Brodie for definite, other than he won’t be playing Saturday,” said Hansen. “We’ve got to wait until the holiday is over to get a scan.”

But the news was a lot brighter on the rest of the All Blacks’ walking wounded, with Hansen confirming it was hoped Sam Cane (abdominal strain), Jordan Taufua (calf), Jack Goodhue (hamstring), Sam Whitelock (concussion symptoms) and Ryan Crotty (concussion symptoms) would all be available for selection after missing chunks of time with their franchises.

Jordie Barrett was involved in a police callout at 5am on Saturday in Dunedin when he and a friend apparently mistakenly entered the wrong flat to eat some fast-food. Rieko Ioane was left with a cut above his eye after “antics” with a Blues teammate after their loss to the Rebels on Saturday.

At the start of his media update, the All Blacks coach declared those two incidents off the table for discussion.

“I’m not really interested in talking about Jordie or Rieko. Enough has been said about that stuff,” he said, before adding: “We’ve had conversations with the people that needed conversations.”