Key ABS must survive 21 weeks of ferocity
Rugby’s World Cup will overshadow all of this season and that will be a pain in the proverbial. Even more so if any or many of our finest All Blacks capsize before the cup starts in Japan in mid-september.
My trepidation lasted only 66 minutes into game 1 at Hamilton when I involuntarily hollered: ‘‘Don’t go in with your head.’’
Yes, before the silly red card was brandished, I waited to see if Brodie Retallick would get up. He stayed down and worst case was our All Blacks’ piston engine had blown his head on February 15.
The question needed to be asked – why did our Gorgeous Guzzler have to be stepping out in game 1 anyway?
The tackler, Sio Tomkinson, was red-carded, but in his defence, Retallick had led with his heavy noggin. Sam Cane had done the same when he hit a ruck in Pretoria and ricked his neck, incurring a scary vertebral fracture.
It’s a brutal game and these guys do not have any respect for their carcasses, not with the neverending Super Rugby matches equivalent to the ferocity of most test footy. So we must spend 21 weeks until July 7 praying the frontline All Blacks survive it. If they can. Prop Tim Perry has already broken a wing.
Without wishing to depress anyone, if you’re putting bets on our champs to win their third cup in a row, it’s worth checking their medical history.
A few have mostly been cleanskins: wings Rieko Ioane and Waisake Naholo – a broken leg cured by Fijian medicine aside – lock Sam Whitelock, hooker Codie Taylor and halfback Aaron Smith. In 2008, in Smith’s first year with the Manawatu¯ Turbos, I wrote in a match preview that he was seldom injured.
A few days later while walking across Eden Park chatting to coach Dave Rennie, he casually mentioned that Nugget had broken his leg.
Smith had the doubters going when the All Blacks ran out of steam late last year, but he looked plenty sharp enough when he came on as supersub last Friday and played a big part in the Highlanders turning over the Chiefs.
Back though to Retallick, who missed a big chunk of the tests last year with a blown shoulder after the fragile Nehe Milner-skudder flicked him a hospital pass at Nelson. In the same Pumas test, Ngani Laumape wrenched a knee, although he is a weapon more likely to injure everyone else.
Skipper Kieran Read spent eight months recovering from spinal surgery last year and there’s no telling if he will get his old form back. The same applies to Cane, even if he will get back, although Manawatu¯ ’s Nick Crosswell did eventually recover from a similar neck injury.
Our best fullback, Ben Smith, doesn’t spare himself either and has had his share of head knocks, some later diagnosed as inner-ear problems, rather than concussion.
Ryan Crotty keeps coming back from concussions, but inside him Sonny Bill Williams’ 33-year-old body is sending him red flags and, like Liam Squire, he sits squarely in the injury-prone category.
Then there’s the front-rowers, notably Dane Coles, who is back, but must have despaired of playing again after two knee ligament operations, then a calf injury and concussion.
Sadly, these guys will beat a path to medical professionals later in life.
Most of the props have been crocked – Owen Franks, Joe Moody, Nepo Laulala, and still there’s no sign of Kane Hames (concussion). Karl Tuinuikafe is too much of a massif to be crocked, but worryingly, Irishman Tadhg Furlong kept popping him in Dublin.
World Cup distraction
The upcoming World Cup has been taking the fun out of this year’s cricket.
According to almost everyone, the series against Pakistan, Si Lanka, India and Bangladesh have been trials for the blimming World Cup in England and Wales, starting on May 30.
India didn’t always field their best men and Bangladesh arrived without the world’s No 2 oneday allrounder, Shakib Al Hasan, nor gun allrounder, Taskin Ahmed, due to injuries.
To get even more matey with the sub-continent roosters, New Zealand play Sri Lanka in the opening World Cupper at Cardiff. Their second match is, wait for it, against Bangladesh in London, before facing Afghanistan and India.
The Black Caps must wait until June 19 before they have a lick at anyone from outside Asia, in the form of one of the favourites, South Africa.