Rugby: Injury puts Ellis out of All Blacks contention

Crusaders halfback Andy Ellis looks to be out of the reckoning for All Blacks' selection this season after finally succumbing to a rib injury.

Ellis played the last six weeks of the Super 14 with three fractured ribs and will now need up to 10 weeks for them to heal.

Ellis fractured the ribs in the round seven win over the Stormers in Christchurch.

"Because I haven't given them a chance to re-heal I just fracture them again each week. I've been getting through with a local jab into them," Ellis told Fairfax media after the Crusaders' 23-36 semifinal defeat to the Bulls in Pretoria on Sunday.

- NZPA