Opportunity knocks for Laulala

Rookie All Blacks tighthead prop Nepo Laulala will get a prime opportunity to establish himself in a fulltime test role after veteran Owen Franks was ruled out for the season.

Franks is to have season-ending surgery on Friday to repair a chronic Achilles tendon problem, an issue that has plagued him for some time.

Head coach Steve Hansen confirmed in New Plymouth yesterday that Franks would have an operation, but said Sam Cane, Ryan Crotty and Wyatt Crockett had all been cleared to play against Argentina on Saturday after recovering from recent head knocks.

Wing Waisake Naholo will miss the game at New Plymouth with a head knock he picked up in the Mitre 10 Cup last Saturday.

Franks missed the Bledisloe Cup test win in Dunedin and was replaced by Laulala, who played strongly and now looks set for an extended run in the No 3 jersey.

‘‘It’s better to let him get it right and let him get back into some good recovery and a pre-season and we’ll see when he gets back for the Crusaders,’’ Hansen said at yesterday’s press conference.

‘‘We will see how the operation goes first and foremost and then go from there.’’

He had said before the Dunedin test that he had planned to spell Franks after the game to sort out his injury.

Hansen yesterday said that Cane’s injury made them think who was next in the loose forward pecking order, especially with Matt Todd ruled out in the shortterm with a hand injury.

He said they settled on Auckland’s Blake Gibson because he was good over the ball and had performed well for New Zealand under-20 in the past even though he had had a lot of injuries.

‘‘It came down to Blake and the two Otago boys, [James] Lentjies and [Dillon] Hunt but we just felt we would look at Blake this week and get some better information on him.

‘‘You can watch as many games as you like but having him in your training environment is good. We will, in time, probably have a look at the other two as well.’’

He said they had resisted the temptation to bring in another back with Naholo out and Ben Smith starting his sabbatical.

As for Argentina’s start to the Rugby Championship, Hansen thought they would be disappointed somewhat with their performances against South Africa.

However, he had some sympathy for the amount of travel a number of their leading players have had to endure through Super Rugby.

‘‘It does have an effect. Now that they are back into this competition they will have the chance to regroup and not do as much travelling and they have an opportunity to grow their game.

‘‘We know they are strong up front and when they are put under pressure that’s what they usually go back to. But they have been trying to grow their running game but don’t expect too much to change.

‘‘They are still in the middle changes of trying to change who they are and how they operate.’’

As for the All Blacks likely selection for Saturday’s test, Hansen said whatever they did would not be classed as experimenting.

‘‘If you go out there and you’ve got an All Blacks jersey on then you are a good player. It’s well documented we have a big season, and we’re not even halfway through it yet and we’ve got a lot of travelling to do, so at some point we are going to have to be smart about who we select.’’