(Reuters) – Former captain Sam Cane is an injury doubt for New Zealand ahead of their clash with France next weekend but coach Scott Robertson is confident Beauden Barrett and Codie Taylor will be fit to play in Paris.
Openside flanker Cane suffered a deep wound to his head which required stitches in Friday’s 23-13 win over Ireland and will have to go through the head injury (HIA) protocols if he is to play at Stade de France on Saturday.
Robertson has also suffered a further depletion to his already thin stocks of forwards after lock Sam Darry went down with a knee injury in training and returned to New Zealand.
Loose forwards Dalton Papali’i, Luke Jacobson and Ethan Blackadder all remained in New Zealand to recover from injuries and none has been confirmed as heading over to Europe to rejoin the squad.
Cane, who will retire from test rugby after the tour, was a late injury withdrawal because of a back injury when the All Blacks last played France in the opening match of last year’s World Cup, losing 27-13.
For that match, Papali’i moved over from the other side of the back row to replace Cane with lock Tupou Vaa’i starting at blindside flanker — a creative use of resources Robertson may now need to emulate for Saturday’s clash.
Flyhalf Barrett and hooker Taylor missed the Ireland clash after sustaining head knocks in the 24-22 win over England that opened the tour but look set to successfully come through the HIA process.
Their recovery will leave Robertson with a positive dilemma when choosing his team for Paris after their replacements, pivot Damian McKenzie and rake Asafo Aumua, both had strong outings against the Irish.
The successful start to New Zealand’s tour will see them move up to second place in the world rankings behind South Africa later on Monday, with Ireland dropping from the top spot to third ahead of France.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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