All Blacks skipper Scott Barrett and his brother and vice-captain Jordie are significant casualties from the team’s victory over Ireland in Chicago today.
Lock Scott left the Soldier Field pitch after only three minutes with a badly cut leg and Jordie Barrett followed after 15 minutes with a high ankle sprain and knee ligament damage.
Second-five Jordie will have a scan after the team arrives in Edinburgh for the Test against Scotland – the All Blacks were scheduled to fly out hours after their 26-13 victory over the Irish at Soldier Field – and will be a big doubt to play at Murrayfield and, indeed, the week after against England at Twickenham.
The All Blacks' final Test is against Wales in Cardiff and there is a good chance the tour is over for Jordie.
Head coach Scott Robertson said Scott Barrett’s leg was cut by a sprig. “We’ll see how long that takes [to heal] but it’s a decent one,” Robertson said.
Jordie’s ankle and knee injuries – caused by an Ireland player falling on him – appear to be longer-term issues. “He’s tough – he just wanted to keep running,” Robertson added.
First-five Beauden, the third and eldest Barrett on the field, said afterwards: "Obviously my bros are a bit beaten up. Scott had a laceration on his leg and Jordie's high ankle [sprain] and knee didn't look great.
"I was super proud and happy with how we responded. I could have let that rattle me, seeing my two bros go off.
"I was impressed with how we stayed connected and stayed aligned on what we wanted to achieve, and we came away with the right result."
The All Blacks’ comeback victory – their third in a row against Ireland – was achieved via a dominant final quarter during which they scored three of their four tries.
With Leicester Fainga’anuku slotting in well as Jordie’s replacement in the midfield – Quinn Tupaea moved from centre to second-five – and Josh Lord an able replacement for Scott, the All Blacks got full value from their reserves bench.
Front row replacements Tamaiti Williams, Samisoni Taukei’aho and Pasilio Tosi, loose forward Wallace Sititi, halfback Cortez Ratima and outside back Damian McKenzie also contributed extremely well to a victory that kept the All Blacks’ hopes of a fifth Grand Slam alive.
The win did not come without controversy, however, with Ireland lock Tadhg Beirne sinbinned and then red carded for what appeared to be an act of self-preservation as he braced for unexpected contact with Beauden Barrett.
In the third minute of the Test, Beirne’s shoulder connected with Barrett’s head and Beirne was yellow-carded in a sanction upgraded to red.
Barrett had received a pass from halfback Cam Roigard that appeared forward – and that made the officials’ decision-making process all the harder to understand.
"I spoke to Tadhg after the game and I was gutted for him, to be honest," Barrett said.
"It was one of those unfortunate parts of the game. I didn't expect the ball. I was hoping that Cam would have played the other option."
Barrett said Beirne had "no other option" but to take the contact.
"He didn't intentionally put a shoulder on me. I can't hide from the fact that I copped a shoulder to somewhere up there, that's what happened, but I'll support him in terms of mitigating whatever happens next," Barrett added.
"I don't feel there's any intention there, it's just unfortunate."
Ireland coach Andy Farrell said: “I’m all for the safest way possible for the game to move forward. So you’ve got to be careful what you say in that regard.
“But to me if you look at it in real time, I don’t know why it was transferred to that [red]. Obviously, they’ve got their reasons and I’m not privy to that.
“To me it’s a forward pass in the first place. How that inputs your decision after that… but it doesn’t matter any more does it?
“We got a red card and we actually dealt with it pretty well to be fair."
Ireland scored a penalty and a converted try while a man down and led 10-7 at the break. After edging further ahead in the second half with a penalty, the All Blacks came back with tries from Williams, Sititi and Roigard.
Asked about the red card, Robertson said: “It was definitely a process wasn’t it? They got to where they got to – to the letter of the law.”
Pressed on whether it was justified, he would only say: “It was a red card wasn’t it? Yeah, so it was a red card.”
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