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Aumua faced with long layoff
By Online Editors
Hurricanes hooker Asafo Aumua is faced with a three-month sideline stint after suffering a wrist injury.
Fairfax have reported that Aumua has had surgery on his fractured wrist and is set to spend six weeks in a cast, with a further six weeks spent rehabbing the injury.
"Whether he returns for playoffs, which hopefully he will be, we'll be pretty happy with that," Hurricanes assistant coach John Plumtree told Fairfax.
The injury, suffered in the Hurricanes' last-gasp win over the Sharks in round eight, has led to Canterbury's Nathan Vella receiving a call up to play behind Ricky Riccitelli and James O'Reilly.
Aumua joins fellow Hurricanes and All Blacks hooker Dane Coles on the sidelines, with the latter hoping for a July return at the earliest.
20-year-old Aumua is in his first season of Super Rugby after starring for Wellington in the Mitre 10 Cup for the last two years.
Aumua's form in the provincial competition saw him earn an end of year call-up to Steve Hansen's All Blacks squad, where he played against the Barbarians and the French XV, though neither fixture carried test status.
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So you have to be an international coach to have an opinion on rugby?
Go to commentsThere is a lot of this being said at the moment but Marcus Smith did miss a couple of drop goals of his own in the first half. Everything is in hindsight and you’d also need to be a brave coach to not make use of your bench replacements in a test.
NZ tried to resist making replacements in the second test against the Boks this year, and fatigued players just ended up making uncharacteristic errors at the end of the match.
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