Ethan Blackadder’s injury nightmare continues; the Crusaders loose forward played just four minutes on his return from a calf injury against the Fijian Drua in last weekend’s quarter-final and now is out for up to eight weeks with a quadriceps strain.
Blackadder, who showed his quality during his short time on the field during his team’s 49-8 victory, suffered the injury when cleaning out a ruck and is out for “many weeks”, according to coach Scott Robertson this morning.
It means he will miss Friday night’s blockbuster of a semifinal against the Blues in Christchurch and next weekend’s grand final, should the Crusaders make it three from three against their northern rivals this season. The other semifinal between the Chiefs and Brumbies will be held in Hamilton on Saturday.
Where the latest issue leaves Blackadder’s All Blacks hopes is not known. After recovering from a calf problem to be named on the bench against the Drua, the 28-year-old would have had high hopes of making the Rugby Championship and World Cup squads.
He and Crusaders teammate Scott Barrett would have been highly likely to be the main contestants for the No.6 jersey in the Rugby Championship and beyond but for now Blackadder, who missed most of last year with a shoulder problem, will be just focusing on his recovery.
A severe quadriceps strain is expected to take four to eight weeks to heal which means he may still be an outside chance to play a part in France.
“We really feel for him,” Robertson said. “He trained so hard to get back. A couple of little touches in those four minutes were amazing and that’s what we’ve missed. He’s such an important member of our squad.”
Also focusing on just getting back on the field is veteran lock Sam Whitelock, who is also unavailable to play on Friday night due to the recurrence of an Achilles problem suffered while playing the Hurricanes nearly a fortnight ago.
“He’s doing everything he possibly can to play again - just not this week,” Robertson said.
It’s possible Whitelock, 34, and heading to French club Pau after the World Cup, has played his last game for the Crusaders. If so it will be a hugely disappointing way to finish for a man who has played a huge part in the six titles won in six years under Robertson.
While acknowledging the absences of Blackadder and Whitelock, Robertson said the expectation was that others would step up and perform and one small positive may be that this is the first time this year the departing coach has been able to name an unchanged forward pack.
“I think any Crusaders team that is named will rise to the occasion,” he said. “It’s going to be a hell of a weekend. It’s got that feeling about it. The crowd, the milestones on both sides are huge - it’s one of those games you want to play in.”
Jack Goodhue and Quentin Strange, meanwhile, have brushed off comments by Blues skipper Dalton Papali’i that there was “bad blood” between the teams.
Papali’i made the comments straight after his side’s 41-12 quarter-final victory over the Waratahs at Eden Park last weekend.
Queried this morning, midfielder Goodhue said: “Did he say that? What did he mean by that? I hope it’s nothing personal, I like Dalton.
“I think what he means by that is there is a rivalry. We went up to Eden Park last year and we beat then and they’ll be hurting. It means they’re going to come down and try to do their best to do the same to us on our home ground.”
Lock Strange said: “That’s their point of view. We’re just here to do a job this week. We don’t look to the past.”
The Blues, who have had issues with their stuttering attack over the past three weeks, will almost certainly kick far less than they did in their 15-3 defeat to the Crusaders in Christchurch last month, not that Robertson was giving much away this morning.
“Both teams would have learned a lot tactically from that last game about holding the ball and building pressure and field territory,” he said. “I think it’s the balance of both and you’ll have to adapt on the night.”
The next All Blacks head coach did acknowledge his imminent departure from the Crusaders where he has been in charge since the 2017 season.
“There will naturally be a couple of deep breaths around that but that’s sport,” he said when asked about walking on to the Orangetheory Stadium pitch in his current role for potentially the last time.
“A lot can happen so I have to be ready to do my role.”
Crusaders team to play Blues at Orangetheory Stadium on Friday, kick-off 7.05pm, is:
15. Will Jordan
14. Dallas McLeod
13. Braydon Ennor
12. Jack Goodhue
11. Leicester Fainga’anuku
10. Richie Mo’unga
9. Mitchell Drummond
8. Christian Lio-Willie
7. Tom Christie
6. Sione Talitui
5. Quentin Strange
4. Scott Barrett ©
3. Oli Jager
2. Codie Taylor
1. Tamaiti Williams
Reserves:
16. Brodie McAlister
17. Kershawl Sykes-Martin
18. Reuben O’Neill
19. Dominic Gardiner
20. Corey Kellow
21. Willi Heinz
22. Fergus Burke
23. Chay Fihaki
SHARE ME