The Crusaders have suffered another cruel blow with the loss of Captain Richie McCaw for the rest of the regular Super Rugby season.
McCaw missed the first six weeks of Super Rugby this year while he had a screw inserted into a fractured metatarsal bone in his right foot in early February.
McCaw had a scan after the Crusaders 17-16 loss to the Queensland Reds on May 29 that revealed the screw was irritating the bone.
“Richie’s probably going to be out for the next two to three weeks,” Blackadder confirmed to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“His foot just feels a little bit uncomfortable and he had a scan on it last week – it just showed the bone is healing nicely but it is still not 100 per cent.”
“While it is not getting any worse, it just needs to heal properly.”
The Crusaders have already been ravaged by injuries to key players such as fullback Israel Dagg and wing Sean Maitland so this will be a big blow for a team that still cannot play their home games at home after Christchurch was hit by earthquake in February.
The Crusaders had a bye last week but face New Zealand Conference leaders the Blues in Timaru this weekend and the Hurricanes in Wellington in the final round.
If McCaw returns to Super Rugby it will only be if the Crusaders reach the play offs and even then he may only be able to return for the second round of the three round play offs.
While McCaw sits out the next rounds No.8 Kieran Read will resume the captaincy and Matt Todd will again be given the No.7 jersey.
Blackadder added that he was not prepared to risk McCaw so close to the finals, which begin on June 24. “It definitely has not broken again; there is just a bit of irritation around where the screw is on the bone,” he said.
It would be a lot to ask but if the Crusaders can finish in the top two on the overall Super Rugby standings they would earn a bye in the opening play-off round which could be crucial for McCaw’s recovery.
gbs
“The Crusaders have suffered another cruel blow with the LOSSS of Captain Richie McCaw” … 😀
1@ Ashley:
Sorry, was ‘n ou spelfoutjie… reggemaak, dankie
gbs @ 2
😀 ag dis my plesier om my intelligensie met minderbevoorregtes te deel!! 😆
gbs @ 2
my intelligensie-deel-minderbevooregtes: altyd my plesier, hehehe
..
hoekom herhaal ek #2? …
ek maak net seker jy mis nie my SUBTIELE verwysing na bulls intelligensie nie(as daar so iets is) 😆
5@ Ashley:
Ek bespeur ‘n onderliggende angstigheid by jou oor die komende naweek… ‘n diepe vrees.
Daar’s pille daarvoor…. dit laat mens glo relax… gebruik ‘n paar.
gbs @ 5
😆 😆 😆
net vir almal wat so gereken het dat ek gesuip was saterdag gaan lees vandag se volsblad,watson self erken dat plonker en crapman verkeerd was
7@ smallies72:
Those 2 have a K@K houding generally these days. They think they wrote the rules, and that their interpretations are always spot on.
The Kiwi’s are starting to panic, trying to rush a slowing Richie McCaw back into the thick of things. This is the beginning of the World Cup choke. Just wait and watch, they wont know who their normal starting line up is again and when they get to the semi’s they will shoot themselves in the foot. LET THE GAMES BEGIN…as Caeser and the Greeks used to say!
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