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Broken thumb leaves All Blacks' Squire a doubt for Lions opener
By Nicholas McGee
New Zealand and Highlanders flanker Liam Squire faces six weeks on the sidelines after breaking his thumb in the Super Rugby clash with Cheetahs.
Squire has been in the conversation to start for the All Blacks against the British and Irish Lions with Kieran Read and Jerome Kaino both on the sidelines through injury.
But he faces a race against time for the first Test of the three-match series on June 24 at Eden Park after injuring himself in the dramatic 45-41 win at Cheetahs.
"It is broken and he's on the plane home. He's probably looking at six weeks out for a broken thumb," Highlanders coach Tony Brown told reporters on Friday.
"With Kieran Read out, Liam was probably next cab off the rank [for the All Blacks]. Hopefully, both Kieran and Jerome Kaino can get back in time for the Lions."
Squire signed a two-year contract extension at Highlanders last month.
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Latest Comments
There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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