Chiefs playmaker cleared of serious injury
The Chiefs are breathing a huge sigh of relief, with star first-five Damian McKenzie cleared of serious injury, and set to be available this weekend.
The All Blacks playmaker was forced off the park in the 43rd minute of Friday night’s 33-29 win over the Crusaders in the Super Rugby Pacific opener in Hamilton due to a rib problem.
That had come about in the 29th minute, when the No 10 was crunched by Crusaders second-five Levi Aumua in the buildup to the hosts’ third try − one of several times he was hit heavily in the motion of passing by a wary Crusaders’ defence.
McKenzie stayed down for an extended period after that shot − with Shaun Stevenson having to instead take the conversion − before recovering to play on, only to succumb early in the second half after reeling out of a tackle.
“He got a good one on him, and he’s hurting,” Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan said soon after the match.
“He was sore at halftime but felt confident, and wanted to go out there, but just shied away from a little bit of contact which obviously indicated that he wasn’t 100%.
“And it’s game one, so as much as we wanted to win it, there was no point breaking him this early.”
But McMillan’s wish that it was just bruising and nothing more has come true, confirming yesterday that his star No 10 was still sore, but should be all right to suit up in the Super Round in Melbourne, where the Chiefs face the Brumbies on Sunday afternoon (4pm kickoff, NZ time).
McKenzie’s importance to the Chiefs cannot be overstated. The 112-game veteran, who last season became the franchise’s leading points scorer, looms as pivotal to their chances of claiming a first title since 2013, in a season where he has a grand shot at the All Blacks No 10 jersey vacated by Richie Mo’unga.
While one-test All Black Josh Ioane provides some decent backup, the Chiefs’ firstfive stocks have lightened this season, with the departures of Bryn Gatland (Japan) and Rivez Reihana (Crusaders), while an injured Kaleb Trask has been replaced in the squad by promising Taranaki tyro Josh Jacomb.
McKenzie was one of the players of the competition last year, with noticeably improved game management in making a more permanent move to first-five from fullback after a season off in Japan, and McMillan had noted the 28-year-old “didn’t miss a trick” in the season-opener, highlighted by his counter-attacking brilliance which set up their second try.
In fact, the scoreboard numbers painted a stark picture of McKenzie’s influence − 27-10 to the Chiefs with him on the park, 19-6 to the Crusaders with him off it.
Meanwhile, the news wasn’t so positive for fellow All Black Quinn Tupaea, who will miss the team’s trip to Australia (the Chiefs stay across the ditch for a clash with the Reds in Brisbane next Saturday) due to concussion.
In what was his first game back for the Chiefs after missing all last season with a knee injury, the second-five’s head collided with the hip of Dallas McLeod late in the contest, and saw him leave the park for a head injury assessment.
McMillan had said post-match the 12-test midfielder had passed the initial HIA, but clarified that he had in fact got that wrong.
Fellow All Blacks midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown had no issues with his HIA checks, having been contentiously pulled from the park in the closing stages due to the new smart mouthguards, and will be available this weekend.
Injured All Blacks duo Josh Lord (ankle) and Emoni Narawa (back), as well as Tyrone Thompson (ankle), should be back into team training this week, with their readiness to play to be assessed over the course of the week.