All Blacks centre Williams to miss entire Test series against France

Centre Sonny Bill Williams will miss New Zealand’s threetest series against France this month after sustaining a knee injury.

A spokesman for the Auckland-based Blues Super Rugby team said that Williams aggravated an old injury in training and will undergo surgery to remove a loose bone fragment in the knee joint. He is expected to be sidelined for four weeks.

New Zealand play France in Test matches at Auckland on 9 June, Wellington on 16 June and Dunedin on 23 June.

Williams was likely to start the first Test while fitness doubts linger over midfielder Ryan Crotty, who is recovering from a head injury.

Captain Sam Whitelock is also in doubt for the first Test because of a concussion.

Meanwhile, the Wellingtonbased Hurricanes sustained another setback to their Super Rugby title hopes when they were beaten 30-14 yesterday by the Dunedin-based Highlanders, their second consecutive loss to a New Zealand conference rival.

The Hurricanes won ten games in a row to move into championship contention, but losses in their last two matches to the Highlanders and Christchurch-based Crusaders leave them in sec- ond place in the New Zealand conference.

They started the match five points behind the first-placed Crusaders and could slip as many as ten points behind if the Crusaders beat the Chiefs today. The Hurricanes never looked comfortable against a tough, abrasive Highlanders team. “I think it was the same it’s been for the last few weeks, we’ve been our own worst enemy,” said Hurricanes captain Brad Shields.