Injured Blues fullback Zarn Sullivan set for a stint on the sidelines
Blues fullback Zarn Sullivan will spend up to eight weeks on the sidelines after suffering a leg injury during the drought-breaking 26-6 win over the Crusaders in the fifth round of Super Rugby Pacific.
Sullivan, 23, left the field just before the half-time siren sounded after picking up the unfortunate injury during the first half at Auckland’s Eden Park on Saturday.
After being replaced in the 41st minute, Sky Sport’s broadcast coverage showed Sullivan sitting on the bench while pointing to his knee with a member of the Blues’ medical staff watching on.
The Blues confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that Sullivan will spend roughly six to eight weeks on the sidelines with a posterior cruciate ligament injury.
“The injury occurred in the first half of the Blues vs Crusaders round five DHL Super Rugby Pacific match at Eden Park last Saturday,” a statement on the team’s social media pages reads.
“Sullivan will now undergo a period of rehab with an aim of returning for the back end of the round-robin matches in DHL Super Rugby Pacific.”
Sullivan, who has played one match for the Maori All Blacks, was replaced by Cole Forbes during the round five fixture between the two traditional New Zealand rugby rivals.
The Blues went on to break a 10-year drought against the Crusaders at Eden Park with Ofa Tu’ungafasi and AJ Lam crossing for a try each in the space of three minutes.
Fly-half Stephen Perofeta was also supremely accurate off the boot, which was a much-improved performance following the tough night away to the Waratahs one week earlier.
The Blues are fourth on the ladder with four wins and one loss to their name, with the Chiefs and Brumbies just ahead by one competition point.
Looking to potentially work their way up the ladder, the Blues will be the away side at Eden Park on Saturday afternoon when they take on Moana Pasifika.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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