All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has revealed that star blindside flanker Shannon Frizell is set to miss their Rugby World Cup opener against France due to injury.
Foster broke the news to reporters at Auckland airport on Friday and said Frizell tweaked a hamstring during a training session.
Already without experienced second-row
Veteran second-row Brodie Retallick is already sidelined with a knee injury, sustained in the Bledisloe Cup win over Australia in Dunedin, which will keep him on the sidelines for the All Blacks’ next two matches – the World Cup warm-up against the Springboks at Twickenham on August 25 and the clash with Les Bleus in Paris on September 8 – and Foster said Frizell will be on a “similar time frame” before he returns to action.
Foster described the injuries to Retallick and Frizell as being “niggly” but is confident that they will have good cover for the duo when they take on the Springboks.
“Brodie is progressing really well, and we’ll assess more next week,” said Foster. “He’s out of the South Africa game and likely to be out of the French game.
“And we’ve got Shannon Frizell who tweaked his hamstring two days ago doing a speed session. Again that’s probably a similar time-frame, so that’s a bit niggly for us.”
Foster downplayed concerns over further injuries ahead of the World Cup, and said he would not be resting his first choice players for what is expected to be a physical match against the Springboks.
He said it’s important for the All Blacks to make firm statement ahead of the global showpiece, and feels the defending World Cup champions are the ideal opponents for his side to make that statement against.
”I’m not nervous at all. I’m excited,” declared Foster when asked whether the recent ACL injury which France fly-half Romain Ntamack suffered in a warm-up game against Scotland made him concerned about fielding his best players.
“I’m nervous from a performance perspective, but you don’t go into test matches worrying about who’s going to get injured. You go in preparing to win and knowing we’ve got to be at 100%.
“What we do know is we want to go into a World Cup where we’ve put ourselves under pressure. If you go into a game with your mind half somewhere else, that’s when you are in danger. It’s a big test, we want to play well and go into that French game with a lot of confidence.”
Not scared to risk his best players
He was also unequivocal when asked if was prepared to field his top line-up if that was judged best for their campaign.
“I won’t be protecting anyone,” he replied. “It will be a normal process. If we’ve got people with a slight ding then they won’t play.
“But there will be no sentiment about trying to put people in cotton-wool. You don’t win World Cups by putting people in cotton-wool.”
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