All Blacks provide worrying update on Jordie Barrett ahead of Bledisloe II
There's mixed news on the Barrett brothers this weekend
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has confirmed Jordie Barrett will undergo a scan on a knee injury picked up in their narrow 31-28 victory over the Wallabies.
Barrett was withdrawn just after half-time, with Anton Lienert-Brown coming on in his place.
Jordie Barrett set for knee scan
Speaking to the media after the game, Robertson confirmed the 27-year-old, who will join URC side Leinster in December, is now set for a scan on a possible MCL injury.
“He’s got a medial knee, so we’ll have to get that scanned,” he said.
At the time of writing, the extent of the injury and a possible return date are unknown.
Possible replacements?
With Barrett now set to miss next weekend’s return Test against the Wallabies in Wellington, Robertson has to make a decision on who he starts in his place.
The aforementioned Lienert-Brown is the likely front-runner, but he has been deployed in the 13 position for much of Robertson’s tenure thus far. The Chiefs midfielder is comfortable at 12 though, as has featured there on multiple occasions.
Despite having a player of Lienert-Brown at his disposal, Razor hinted he could look to blood in some fresh faces in that position.
“We’ve got that period of time to get that month under the belt to get the knee to 100%, and it gives us the opportunity to play a couple of other players,” he told Stuff.co.NZ.
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“Sometimes when your hand’s forced, the way it’s worked out with guys taking opportunities this year.”
This is a possible hint at the inclusion of Harry Plummer from the get-go in Wellington. The Blues back was a last-minute call-up to the All Blacks squad this weekend, following Beauden Barrett’s withdrawal through illness, however, he came off the bench late in the day to earn his first Test cap.
Whilst he is still incredibly inexperienced at Test level, he has featured to good effect for the Blues in their run to the Super Rugby title, appearing in all 17 of their games.
Similarly to J. Barrett, he would act as that second ball-player outside of Damian McKenzie, as he has featured at fly-half for large chunks of the season.
The All Blacks are out of contention to lift the Rugby Championship title this year, so it could be a decent option to start Plummer this weekend.
Positive update on Beauden Barrett
Whilst they will be missing one of the Barrett brothers, Robertson gave a positive insight on another.
Beauden Barrett withdrew late in the day against the Wallabies through illness, with Will Jordan dropping into his spot at fullback and Sevu Reece coming onto the wing; but Robertson detailed this was nothing more than a bug.
“Yeah he had an illness, we’ve had a couple through the week but Beauden was the only one ruled out today. It was just a bug.”
This means he is certainly back in contention to feature next weekend, as they wrap up their Rugby Championship campaign.
