Three more All Blacks ruled out of northern tour as injuries mount

The All Blacks will be without nine players for their northern tour, after prop Tyrel Lomax, hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho and loose forward Shannon Frizell joined a growing injury list.

The All Blacks confirmed the latest three injuries on Saturday, with selectors to name a 36-man squad on Tuesday morning.

Captain Ardie Savea (shoulder), loose forward Luke Jacobson (elbow), wingers Caleb Clarke (shoulder) and Leroy Carter (ankle), first five-eighths Ruben Love (ankle) and prop Ollie Norris (knee) had already been ruled out.

Frizell left the field with a non-contact knee injury during the second Bledisloe Cup test in Sydney. A scan later confirmed he had ruptured the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his left knee, and he faces about six weeks out.

Taukei’aho tore his calf after accelerating off a maul in the second half of the same test. He is expected to be out for four to six weeks, which rules him out of the November window.

Lomax did not play in either Bledisloe test. He has been managing a disc injury in his neck since the Super Rugby season, and the All Blacks said the injury remained aggravated. He will stay home for treatment while it settles.

Medical staff are still assessing other players, including first five-eighths Richie Mo’unga, who missed both Bledisloe tests with a calf injury.

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The All Blacks play Scotland on November 8, Wales on November 15 and England on November 22. Those tests complete their round-robin in the Nations Championship.

The championship ends with a finals weekend on November 27-29, when six tests will pit each northern hemisphere side against the matching seed from the southern hemisphere.