The All Blacks have sent a fourth player home from their tour of South Africa, with head coach Dave Rennie managing an emerging injury crisis ahead of their first Test against the Springboks this weekend. Prop Ollie Norris has become the latest casualty after sustaining a cartilage injury in his knee.
Norris joins growing injury list
The All Blacks confirmed on Monday that Norris will be sidelined for around six weeks and will leave the squad, with a replacement prop set to be announced in due course. He follows wing Caleb Clarke, who returned home after rupturing a tendon in his shoulder against the Sharks, and centre Billy Proctor, who fractured a shoulder blade against the Stormers. Hooker George Bell was ruled out before the tour started due to a calf injury.
Scrum-half Cortez Ratima also suffered a knee injury during the 50-19 victory over the Bulls in Pretoria and is being assessed, with Canterbury and Crusaders scrum-half Noah Hotham called in as cover.
Star trio doubts for Ellis Park
New Zealand could also be without Will Jordan, Cameron Roigard, or Damian McKenzie for the opening Test. McKenzie injured his ankle in an awkward fall against the Sharks, while Roigard and Jordan have yet to play in South Africa due to calf tightness and a back issue respectively.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the win over the Bulls, Rennie said: "We’re confident that Cam and Will will come right. Damian, maybe we’re sweating on a tad, but still think he’ll be right. So they’ll make a difference [against South Africa]."
Rennie warns of intensity jump
The All Blacks boss has warned his side need to "up the ante" as they prepare to face the reigning world champions. "50 points against a very good Bulls side is a positive, we played a team that was prepared to play and really took it to us," he said. "It’s good for us, we’ve now got a game at altitude, guys got an appreciation for that. I thought we worked really hard in those circumstances and we’ll be better for it."
"What we know is the intensity levels, the quality that we’ll come up against next week, is three, four, fivefold, but we’ve played reasonably well on tour and we know we need to up the ante."
