Devastating injury update for Wallabies' Samu Kerevi - report

Rugby Australia has yet to have their say but it is believed that Samu Kerevi will miss the rest of 2022 following the injury sustained when playing for his country at last weekend’s Commonwealth Games sevens in England. The 28-year-old damaged his ACL in the pool win over Kenya and didn’t appear in the rest of a tournament that ended with Australia losing out on the semi-finals to South Africa, the eventual champions.

Kerevi was Dave Rennie’s starter in the No12 shirt in all three of last month’s Test matches versus England and having been given permission to play sevens in England rather than travel to Argentina for the opening two rounds of the Rugby Championship, the expectation was that the midfielder would link back in with the Wallabies for their August 27 game at home to the Springboks.   

However, that plan has now been scuppered, according to a report on foxsports.com.au. It read: “The Wallabies’ worst fears have been realised, with Samu Kerevi expected to miss the rest of the year due to a knee injury.

“It’s understood Kerevi, 28, suffered an ACL injury during Australia’s narrow 7-5 victory over Kenya in their Commonwealth Games pool match over the weekend. Kerevi took no further part in Australia’s campaign, where John Manenti’s side lost in the semi-finals to South Africa.

“Rugby Australia had been cagey about details regarding Kerevi, eager not to let the cat out of the bag. Kerevi told reporters he felt ‘alright’ and added: ‘I’m always confident [to be fit to play] but I’ll get a doc on it and see. It was just a big bang but then once it settled down it was fine.’

“But the Suntory centre is expected to miss the remainder of the year, with sources confirming the 41-Test centre is expected to spend at least six months on the sidelines. Kerevi is said to be devastated, believing he has let his teammates down.

“The Wallabies were happy for Kerevi to take part of Australia’s sevens campaign after the former Queensland Reds captain made a promise to his teammates from the Tokyo Olympics that he would try and help them win gold in Birmingham.”