Injury ends Super Rugby campaign for Crusaders winger Jone Macilai
Crusaders winger Jone Macilai has been ruled out for the remainder of the Super Rugby season with a leg injury.
A mid-season road trip to Perth for a one-off match against the Western Force will give the Crusaders a chance to build depth.
And maybe just as well.
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson has revealed winger Jone Macilai is gone for the remainder of the Super Rugby season with a leg injury.
Exact details of Macilai's injury are yet to be confirmed.
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Macilai suffered the injury during the Crusaders 42-26 victory over the French Barbarians at AMI Stadium last Friday night.
Also injured in that match was loose forward Billy Harmon. He had scans on a knee injury on Wednesday afternoon but Robertson said they were yet to be inspected by a doctor.
Crusaders Coach Scott Robertson is expecting a stern challenge from the Western Force.
Robertson does expect Harman to be missing "for a few weeks at least".
Friday night's match between the Force and a depleted Crusaders - who will be missing its All Blacks - will be contested in front of a full house at nib Stadium.
The fixture is a one-off game for the Crusaders but part of the World Rugby Series (WRS), the bold venture started by billionaire Andrew Forrest after the Western Force got axed from Super Rugby last year.
Robertson said there was a lot of hype around Perth for the match. So much so, the Crusaders have been surprised by the level of support for the Force in Perth.
Robertson was expecting the Force, who have been strengthened by new signing and former All Black Jeremy Thrush, to be highly motivated and said the Crusaders were treating the challenge with the same respect they would of any Super Rugby opponent.
"We're going to get intensity, we know that. We know that they'll bring it, they'll bring the physicality," he said of the Force.
Crusaders loose forward Billy Harmon is yet to find out the extent of his knee injury suffered against the French Barbarians.
"The Force are pretty keen to make a statement around where they sit in world rugby," Robertson said.
The Crusaders next Super Rugby assignment is against the Highlanders at AMI Stadium on July 6. Robertson's men have the bye as Super Rugby resumes following the June international window next weekend.
Robertson said the Perth game came at a perfect time to help the table-topping Crusaders - who have a 12-2 record so far in 2018 - stay in rhythm and run off the rust before the Highlanders match.
The Crusaders have not played since its 34-20 win over the Chiefs on June 2.
Robertson has named 25 players with 10 reserves able to be used in WRS matches.
Aside from Macilai and Harmon, the squad has a similar look to the one that beat the French Barbarians but reinforcements have come in the form of George Bridge, Seta Tamanivalu, Heiden Bedwell-Curtis and Wyatt Crockett.
Mitchell Hunt, who was a standout after starting at fullback against the French Barbarians, shifts to first five for the Crusaders with Mike Delany on the bench for the Force match.
Israel Dagg, who started on the right wing last week, will play at fullback.
Tamanivalu, who was given the week off last week, will start at centre.
Hooker Brodie McAlister and loose forward Hugh Renton are likely to make their Crusaders debut from the bench.
AT A GLANCE:
Crusaders: Israel Dagg (VC), Manasa Mataele, Seta Tamanivalu, Rameka Poihipi, George Bridge, Mitchell Hunt, Mitchell Drummond (capt), Whetu Douglas, Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, Ethan Blackadder, Mitchell Dunshea, Quinten Strange, Mike Alaalatoa (VC), Andrew Makalio, Wyatt Crockett. Reserves: Brodie McAlister, Donald Brighouse, Chris King, Hamish Dalzell, Hugh Renton, Bryn Hall, Mike Delany, Sam Beard, Tima Faingaanuku, Caleb Makene.
- Stuff
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