All Blacks skipper Sam Cane’s season is over after fracturing his cheekbone in the side’s close win over Japan in Tokyo on Saturday night, and midfielder Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is leaving the squad to join the All Blacks XV.
Cane sustained two small facial fractures during the 38-31 win,and coach Ian Foster confirmed the 30-year-old would be flying back to New Zealand as a result.
League convert Tuivasa-Sheck and his midfield partner from the Tokyo test Braydon Ennor are leaving the squad to join the All Blacks XV for their outing against Ireland A this weekend. The unsettled victory over Japan was Tuivasa-Sheck’s third appearance for the All Blacks and his first test start.
With his captain unavailable for the remainder of the tour, Foster said he had decided on who would be taking on that role, but did not reveal who it would be when speaking to media on Sunday morning.
“We’ve got an answer, but we’ve got about three different flights and team players all left late last night or early this morning so I haven’t had a final conversation with the person,” Foster said.
“I’m just going to reserve that for a day, but it’s all sorted.”
It brings an abrupt end to a rollercoaster season for the All Blacks captain, who has at times found himself in the firing line of critics as the team endured some rocky spells throughout the year.
He wasn’t the only All Blacks player to be ruled out of the remainder of the tour, with veteran hooker Dane Coles returning due to a minor calf injury.
Coles, who has had a long history of calf injuries, was managing a niggle in the lead up to the test against Japan but was due to start the match before he injured the muscle in his other leg during warm-ups.
“It was nothing significant,” Foster said of how Coles suffered the injury. “He was just warming up, the ground was a little bit soft and the forwards were doing scrums and maul stuff, and he just felt it tighten up in a spot that it hasn’t before. We’d seen no sign of that all week - he’s actually been training the house down and we were pretty excited about seeing him on the park.
“He’s a very disappointed man at this stage. It’s nothing significant, but it’s certainly a two-to-three-week injury, and we’ve only got three weeks.”
New Zealand captain Sam Cane and coach Ian Foster. Photosport
Cane and Coles will be replaced in the squad by Billy Harmon and Asafo Aumua ahead of next weekend’s test against Wales in Cardiff, while Mark Telea remains with the squad as Will Jordan (inner ear) remains unfit to join them. Leicester Fainga’anuku is also rejoining the squad in Cardiff after flying home from Japan for family reasons. Patrick Tuipulotu and Damian McKenzie, who were brought into the All Blacks squad as cover ahead of the test against Japan, will also return to the All Blacks XV in Ireland.
While Aumua is no stranger to the All Blacks set-up, it will be a first for 27-year-old loose forward Harmon, who has impressed at the provincial and Super Rugby levels, as well as in his opportunities with the Māori All Blacks.
“They were in the All Blacks XV for a reason,” Foster said of the pair. “Asafo has been around the All Blacks team for quite a while and was on the big tour last year, so he knows what it’s about. He’s desperate to get back in and has had this week training with us.
“Billy Harmon, it will be a first for him. With all the travel I haven’t really been able to talk to him yet. But he’s an experienced campaigner; he’s played so well for the Highlanders and I thought he played well in the July series as well for the Māori All Blacks against Ireland. He’s a quality footballer that we’ve seen for a long time, a good all-rounder, so we’re looking forward to bringing him in.”
