Western Force lose Wallaby hooker ahead of NZ tour
The Western Force are set to replace one Wallabies hooker with another for their Super Rugby Pacific clash with the Highlanders in Invercargill.
Folau Faingaâa is expected to enter the 12-day concussion protocols after copping a knock to the head in Saturday nightâs 21-18 after-the-siren win over Moana Pasifika.
The Force will assess him again before a final diagnosis is made.
But his expected absence will be offset by the likely return of Feleti Kaituâu, who is in the final stages of his return from a minor hamstring injury.
âFolau took a shoulder to the head, which I think was a HIA, so thatâs why he didnât come back on,â Force coach Simon Cron said.
âI believe itâd be 12 days (that heâs ruled out). Nine times out of 10 (thatâs the case), but it hasnât been confirmed yet.
âWeâll let that pan out and see what happens.
âBut if he has problems or itâs in the best interests of him for us to look after him, then obviously weâve got Feleti in the background now, whoâs just built back (with running loads on Saturday).â
Force captain Michael Wells and lock Jeremy Williams are set to return from concussion for the start of the NZ tour, which will take in games against the Highlanders on Sunday, Blues and Hurricanes.
The Force are 2-1 after posting home wins over the Melbourne Rebels and Moana either side of an embarrassing 71-20 loss to the Reds.
Although the Force got the much-needed victory against Moana via an after-the-siren penalty from Bryce Hegarty, Cron wasnât happy with the performance.
âI think that we did a lot of things that we shouldnât have, and we could have applied a lot more pressure and built into that game a lot better,â Cron said.
âI made it pretty clear to the backs that if we chip it again that I might make it onto the field and take them off myself, so I think the message was pretty clear.â
And it seems the players werenât satisfied with their performance either.
âWe talk a lot about being process versus outcome driven. So ignoring the score, process wise in terms of catch-pass, running lines, not offloading, not chipping the ball away â the players ranked themselves on-field quite low in that area,â he said.
âIt was under five out of 10.
âI would agree with that. The good news there is it gives us a lot of upside.â