Moody injured, Hames back in
If you’re a loosehead prop of reasonable Super Rugby stature, then make sure your passport’s up to date.
Kane Hames will join the All Blacks, as cover for the injured Joe Moody, and slot onto their bench for Saturday’s test against South Africa at Albany. That leaves the experienced Wyatt Crockett to start.
But the team need another No.1 for their upcoming trip to Buenos Aires and Cape Town and the options aren’t abundant or obvious.
All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen threw the names of Tim Perry, Pauliasi Manu and the injured Mitchell Graham up as players who could potentially join the squad as training cover, but not with huge conviction.
Moody, rated by Hansen as the world’s best loosehead prop, dislocated a shoulder against Argentina on Saturday and faces surgery and a six-month recovery.
The team has already lost tightheads Owen Franks (injury) and Charlie Faumuina (France) but boast better cover on that side of the scrum. The cupboard’s a little more bare at loosehead.
‘‘So there’s not a lot of wellknown names but that’s usually the case when you’ve had consistency,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘We’re going to have to take an extra one on tour, so finding out who that will be will be a priority and how we’re going to introduce them to the team will be the next part of the plan.’’
There’s the option to call someone in now and have them spend the next week in camp or they could wait until their September 22 departure for Buenos Aires.
The main thing, Hansen said, was not to sulk, but to view this as an opportunity to build some depth. That process is already underway at tighthead, in the form of Nepo Laulala and Ofa Tu’ungafasi.
‘‘Nepes went really, really well in his first game [against Australia],’’ Hansen said.
‘‘The Argies are really difficult to scrum against because you don’t know what you’re going to get each scrum. Sometimes they’ll engage, sometimes they won’t and they play it right to the letter of the law, so it will be a good learning curve for him.
‘‘Ofa’s getting better and better and getting his own self-belief is a big thing. Scrummaging is about confidence and once he really starts to believe in who he is, I think he’ll really blossom.
‘‘We’ve got a new signing down at the Highlanders with [Tyrel] Lomax, you’ve got Atu Moli who’s been with us - they’re big lumps of men - and we’ve got Jeff To’omagaAllen who’s another big lump of a man so we’re petty fortunate with what’s coming through on the tighthead side of things. Within six months we’ll probably be saying the same thing about the loosehead side.’’
The test’s best moment belonged to blindside flanker Vaea Fifita, whose size, power and pace make him a hugely formidable prospect.
‘‘I don’t think he’s the finished product, he’s got a long way to go before he does that,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘But it’s a tank that’s got plenty in it and our job now is to bring that out and his job is to work on his game and reach his potential.’’