Centre Sonny Bill Williams to miss first Australia clash
Sunday 28 July 2019 08:14, UK
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is hopeful lock Brodie Retallick will be fit for the Rugby World Cup despite dislocating his shoulder against South Africa on Saturday.
Retallick was cleared out in a ruck by Springboks opposite RG Snyman and landed awkwardly on his left shoulder. He was in visible pain as he walked off in the 61st minute of the 16-16 draw in Wellington.
Hansen did not give a timeline for Retallick's return but sounded optimistic the former World Player of the Year would be fit to travel to Japan for the World Cup, which begins on September 20.
"We have a reasonably positive update," Hansen said on Sunday.
"He's only dislocated it which means that there's a good possibility he could make the World Cup.
"There's no timeline yet about when he's going to return to play. He's one of our best players so I'm obviously relieved."
The absence of Retallick would be a massive blow to Hansen's plans for the World Cup, with Scott Barrett still on the sidelines with a broken thumb, although the coach added the 25-year-old would have a scan on Monday.
For their next Rugby Championship fixture, against Australia in Perth on August 10, the All Blacks will also be without centre Sonny Bill Williams.
The 33-year-old will instead play for provincial side Counties Manukau and be brought back into the All Blacks squad for their Rugby Championship finale with the Wallabies in Auckland the following week.
"He's going to play a couple of games over the next couple of weeks, which will be good," Hansen said.
"He'll be available for Perth, but we're not going to take him. We're going to get him to play two, or three ... as many games as we can get in between there and Auckland."
The inside centre has suffered a string of injury over the last two years and his place in Hansen's World Cup squad was in jeopardy if he could not prove his match fitness during the southern hemisphere competition.
He played 59 minutes of the All Blacks 16-16 draw with South Africa in Wellington on Saturday before being replaced by Anton Lienert-Brown.
Hansen is due to reduce his 39-man squad to 34 players on Wednesday for the two clashes with Australia.
