Read hopeful he won’t miss too much of the start of Super Rugby
WELLINGTON: All Black captain Kieran Read is to have back surgery this weekend and will miss the early rounds of next year’s Super Rugby competition.
Read had an injury-plagued 2017 due to thumb and wrist issues and was ruled out of the team’s final Test against Wales last month with a hip flexor problem.
Super Rugby champions Canterbury said Read had suffered a prolapsed disc while on duty with the All Blacks and would be out of action for up to four months, ruling him out of the competition until about round nine in mid-April.
“Head in for surgery on a disc in my back on Saturday which I injured at the end of the season,” Read wrote on his Facebook page. “Hopefully I don’t miss too much of the start of Super Rugby.”
Read joins hooker Dane Coles as long-term injury concerns for the All Blacks. The Hurricanes captain ruptured knee ligaments against France and is not due back for six months. The Crusaders open their title defence against the Chiefs on 24 February in Christchurch.
Elsewhere, Wales and Bath No 8 Taulupe Faletau could miss next year’s Six Nations after being ruled out for 12-16 weeks due to a knee injury the forward’s Premiership side said on Tuesday.
Faletau, who has 70 caps for his country, sustained the injury during Bath’s 24-20 defeat at Toulon in the European Champions Cup last Saturday and the team said that the 27-year-old had a torn ligament in his left knee.
“We’re really disappointed for Taulupe – he’s been in great form this season, so it’s really unfortunate news,” Bath director of rugby Todd Blackadder said.
“However, he’s in great hands with the medical team and we look forward to having him back on the pitch soon.”
Wales will definitely be without flank Sam Warburton for the Six Nations, being held from 3 February to 17 March, after the British and Irish Lions captain underwent knee surgery last week.
Meanwhile, Australia have launched bids to host the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027 and the women’s event in 2021, Rugby Australia said yesterday.
The day after the organisation introduced Raelene Castle as their chief executive, they also announced a national women’s 15-a-side tournament starting next March.
It will complement the Sevens competition launched this year to capitalise on the success of the Australian women’s team at the Rio Games where they won rugby’s first Olympic gold medal since 1924.
“The Rugby World Cup is the pinnacle for our Wallabies and Wallaroos teams and we want to bring those tournaments home for any player, boy or girl, man or woman, who ever dreamed of lifting the Cup here on our home soil,” RA chairman Cameron Clyne said in a statement.
SA, who have bid for the last four World Cups, have not hosted the event since 1995 and could loom as major challengers for Australia in 2027, while New Zealand may throw its hat into the ring for the 2021 women’s tournament. – Reuters