Injured All Blacks duo still ‘unlikely’ to play Rugby World Cup opener
All Blacks coach Ian Foster has provided a positive injury update on star duo Brodie Retallick and Shannon Frizell, saying that both players are “a little bit ahead of schedule.”
Loose forward Frizell was compared to legendary All Black Jerome Kaino after a career-best Test against the Springboks last month, but the flanker won’t repeat history this week.
Coach Foster confirmed earlier this week that Frizell was unavailable to face the World Champion Boks at Twickenham due to a “niggly” hamstring injury.
Frizell will be watching on from the sidelines along with All Blacks centurion Brodie Retallick who limped off the field during the thrilling win over the Wallabies in Dunedin with a knee injury.
“Clearly with Brodie Retallick out at the moment, and with Shannon Frizzel in the same boat – they’re both actually progressing really well by the way, a little bit ahead of schedule which is pleasing,” Foster told reporters in London.
“We really want to manage our locking stocks so we’re taking advantage of utilizing Josh Lord while he’s over here and (that’ll) give us a good chance to manage the time that Scott (Barrett) and Sam (Whitelock) have.”
When Foster initially revealed that both players were unavailable for the upcoming Test, the coach also revealed that the star duo were “likely” to miss the World Cup opener in Paris.
The All Blacks face tournament hosts France at Stade de France on September 8, which is in just over two weeks’ time.
While Foster was positive about how both Frizell and Retallick were tracking, the coach clarified that they were still in doubt for that highly anticipated clash with Les Bleus.
“Unlikely but they are trending really well which is pleasing,” Foster added.
The All Blacks take on South Africa at Twickenham on Friday night. For both teams, it’s their final opportunity to make a statement ahead of the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France.
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Why would Eben lie? The guy has achieved so much. He saw it as arrogance. Any normal person who plays against the ABs year in and year out would have the same thoughts. Why even talk about the final when you have the biggest game of your lives next week in a stage you have never gotten passed? Rugly is simple in SA. Have fun but the most important thing is respect. I’m not buying any of this misinterpreted nonsense. Eben isn’t English, but no one during that interview was asking what did he say? He's speaking and therefore his understanding is perfectly fine. It was an arrogant thing to say, esp for a team that has never been to a final, never mind a semi. You guys up north can interpret it in a different way if you wish, maybe that s why you don’t win the biggest tournaments.
Go to comments> with Sky TV in New Zealand saying it has seen an 11 per cent lift in overall viewership this year. It’s easy for these kiwi “journalists” to throw around meaningless numbers to make it seem that things are improving, but if you look at the stats behind this 11 percent it says that after 10 rounds of rugby there is only a paltry 160k cumulative viewers in total.. That is on average 16k viewers watching a single round of Super Rugby. I very much doubt any of the other numbers that Gregor so proudly “reports” on.
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