Fakatava skips surgery

Two-test All Black Folau Fakatava hasn’t given up on his Rugby World Cup dream and will attempt to rehabilitate his ruptured ACL without an operation. However, his decision hasn’t prevented the Highlanders from landing Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi for 2023, with the southerners understood to have been granted dispensation to sign the former All Black for the whole season. Fakatava reinjured the knee just before the All Blacks’ end-of-season tour, but after meeting his surgeon late last week he has decided to pursue what is being described as ‘‘a non-operative approach’’.