Dave Rennie issues Cam Roigard update as All Blacks boss opens up on Rassie Erasmus snub
Dave Rennie issues Cam Roigard update as All Blacks boss opens up on Rassie Erasmus snub
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has revealed the extent of Cam Roigard’s injury as he prepares to announce his squad for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry opener on Saturday.
The experienced coach will on Thursday name 23 players to take on the Springboks at Ellis Park at the weekend, and he expects the 25-year-old scrum-half to be among them.
Speaking to the press on Monday, he admitted that his squad are “a little bit thin at nine”, revealing that back-up scrum-half Cortez Ratima has undergone a scan after injuring himself in Saturday’s match against the Bulls. The result showed a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury, causing the boss to call in Noah Hotham as injury cover.
Rennie told reporters that he is “going to see how it is over the next 48 hours”, but insists that the arrival of Hotham is a positive.
“We’ve still got KP [Kyle Preston] if Cortez was no good, and would need Noah to play on the Tuesday,” Rennie explained. “So yeah, look, good to get him in. He’s excited.”
The key man at nine doesn’t appear to be in any danger of missing the opening Test, despite not having played for the national side since their victory over Ireland in the Nations Championship.
“We expect Cam to be ready to go in the weekend,” Rennie said confidently, adding that his lack of recent game time should leave him fresh: “Cam’s played a hell of a lot of rugby this year, so him not playing so much lately is not a bad thing.”
“We’re pretty clear”
With the two biggest sides in international rugby set to collide, much of the focus has been around the tactics that each team is going to employ, and which side can get the best out of their players on the day.
Both Rennie and Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus had the opportunity to discuss the game ahead of time with the official, but one side declined.
Erasmus told the World Rugby governing body and Rennie that there was not “any need” to discuss the officials’ areas of focus beyond the email chain that had gone before.
“For us to do that, we both have to agree,” Rennie said, discussing his contact with the Springboks boss. “They sent out an email last week just to have a chat around maybe four key areas, and one of them was around the time wasting.
“Rassie didn’t feel there was any need to meet. I feel the same way to be honest. We’ve had conversations via email, and we’ve got a summary sent to us this morning. So we’re pretty clear.”
“We’ll definitely be ready”
Both coaches will name their teams later this week, but Rennie has claimed that more will be involved over the four-match series.
“When we name our side, we’re going to leave out some really good players, but in four Tests, I think we’ll end up using 30-odd players anyway.
“So the guys who don’t get their opportunity this week would certainly probably get a crack at some stage during a series.”
Rennie is looking forward to what will be the biggest Test of his All Blacks career.
“It’s a hell of a series, isn’t it? Playing world champions in South Africa, over four tests, massive interest all over the world, huge amount of Kiwis coming over here to travel and embrace it. So we’re really excited, and we’ll definitely be ready.”