New Zealand winger Caleb Clarke has flown home from the All Blacks tour of South Africa and faces shoulder surgery, becoming the third player lost to injury before the team has played a single test in the four match series against the Springboks.
Scans confirmed the 27 year old damaged a tendon in his shoulder during the 54-0 win over the Sharks in Durban, played on Wednesday morning New Zealand time. RNZ reported that a timeframe for his return will not be clear until the operation is done, which leaves his summer and the early part of next season in doubt.
Clarke had been one of the better performers of the tour so far and his exit is a personal blow as much as a selection one. “I am gutted to be going home because I’ve loved my time here so much,” he said in comments reported by 1News.
Head coach Dave Rennie has decided not to call in a replacement. He said the squad was “comfortable with the outside backs cover we have at the moment”, which points to a group that still includes Beauden Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Leroy Carter, Emoni Narawa and Josh Moorby, with Will Jordan expected back from a back complaint in time for the first test.
That is a defensible call on paper. It is also a thin one. Jordan was ruled out of the Sharks match during the week and Rennie said the wing “would have played” had the back problem not flared. Halfback Cam Roigard pulled out late with a tight calf and first five Damian McKenzie came through the Durban game with an ankle problem. None of those three has been ruled out of the series, but a squad that started the tour with 44 players is now carrying a lot of small question marks into the biggest four weeks of its year.
Clarke is the third player sent home. Crusaders hooker George Bell went first, with a calf injury picked up at training in Cape Town before the tour opener, and was replaced by Bradley Slater. Hurricanes midfielder Billy Proctor followed after breaking a shoulder blade in the 38-21 win over the Stormers, an injury reported to need 10 to 12 weeks of recovery but no surgery. Richie Mo’unga was called into the squad as cover after Proctor’s injury, ending a three year absence from the All Blacks environment.
The tour is being played as Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, a new arrangement between New Zealand Rugby and South African Rugby that has brought the All Blacks back for a full tour of the republic for the first time in three decades. Four provincial style warm up matches lead into four tests, starting at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on 22 August, then Cape Town on 29 August, FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on 5 September and a final test in Baltimore in the United States on 12 September.
The last hit out before all of that is against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, kicking off at 7pm local time on Saturday, which is 5am on Sunday in New Zealand. Rennie has made 19 changes from the side that beat the Sharks and handed the captaincy to hooker Codie Taylor, who will lead the All Blacks for the first time in his 110th appearance for the team.
“Huge congratulations to Codie on his first All Blacks captaincy. He is a top man and has done a great job leading this tour group,” Rennie said in the team announcement.
He was blunt about the size of the assignment. “The Bulls have consistently been South Africa’s best franchise side, making the United Rugby Championship finals in four of the last five years,” Rennie said. He also described the match as the final hit out before the first test, which makes it “an important game” for players still trying to force their way into the test 23.
The team named to face the Bulls has Xavier Numia and Tyrel Lomax playing their first minutes of the tour in the front row, Fabian Holland and Patrick Tuipulotu locking the scrum, and a loose forward trio of Simon Parker, Anton Segner and Peter Lakai. Cortez Ratima starts at halfback with Josh Jacomb given his first start at first five after debuting against the Stormers. Anton Lienert-Brown and Rieko Ioane pair up in midfield, Josh Moorby and Leroy Carter take the wings, and Beauden Barrett shifts to fullback after an underwhelming outing against the Stormers. The bench includes Samisoni Taukei’aho, George Bower, Siale Lauaki, Josh Lord, Wallace Sititi, Kyle Preston, Timoci Tavatavanawai and Emoni Narawa.
Loftus Versfeld sits about 1,300 metres above sea level and has a reputation as one of the harder places in world rugby for a touring side, although the All Blacks have won there more often than most visitors. The Bulls have released Springboks back into their matchday squad for the game, so the New Zealanders will get a taste of the physical contest waiting for them at Ellis Park a week later, without any of the points counting.
The wider picture for Rennie is a familiar one for touring coaches. He has a large squad, a run of matches on hard grounds in dry conditions, and a test series against the reigning world champions that will be decided by which players are standing and in form by late August. Three are already out. The Bulls match is the last chance to find out who else is ready, and the last chance for anyone still on the fringe to change his mind.
Does the loss of Caleb Clarke change how you rate New Zealand’s chances in the test series, or is the squad deep enough to absorb it? Leave a comment below and tell us what you think.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
Leave a Reply