Northern | US

All Blacks coach gives injury update, loose-forward ruled out of tour

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – JULY 18: Dave Rennie, Head Coach of New Zealand, and Anton Segner of New Zealand celebrate victory at full time during the Nations Championship match between New Zealand All Blacks and Ireland at Eden Park on July 18, 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer – Nations Championship/Nations Championship via Getty Images)
Comments
10 Comments

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has revealed that German-born loose-forward Anton Segner will play no further part in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Tour.

ADVERTISEMENT

Segner, who was ruled out of the All Blacks’ first Test against the Springboks at Ellis Park, required small keyhole surgery on his ankle.

The Blues loose-forward was named on the bench for last weekend’s clash against the Springboks, but was replaced by Chiefs No.6 Simon Parker on gameday.

VIDEO

Related

Rennie confirmed the news in his post-match press conference in Johannesburg, after the All Blacks’ 41-35 victory over the Lions.

“Yeah, he [Segner] had a little bit of keyhole surgery, just the washout and infection. So he’ll come with us to Cape Town, but he won’t take part in the rest of us all,” the All Blacks coach said.

Despite Segner being ruled out for the remaining three Tests, the All Blacks will not call in cover, according to Rennie.

“Our feeling is now that we’re beyond the midweek games; we’ve got enough loose forwards to pick from.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The All Blacks head coach added that they got through the Lions clash unscathed.

“No, we came through well. So a couple of guys that we started with were cramping, but from an injury point of view, it’s positive.”

“We were hoping Ofa Tu’ungafasi would mean that we didn’t have to use Xavier Numia today, and unfortunately he was crook, and yeah, so just he’s running a little bit of a fever, and we felt it wouldn’t be wise to try and play him,” Rennie said.

“Yeah, but now that we’re beyond this game, we’ve got he got 40 odd players to pick from, so we’ve got a fair number of fresh bodies heading into the weekend.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch Rugby's Greatest Rivalry LIVE

Two rugby giants collide. Stream live, replays and highlights free on RugbyPass TV. 

Watch on RPTV

Win VIP tickets to Rugby's Greatest Rivalry

Win a VIP match experience at the Baltimore Test, plus travel & accommodation up to $2,500.

Enter To Win
Competition ends: 28 August 2026. USA Only. No purchase necessary.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Video
LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

10 Comments
B
B 4 hours ago

Bad Luck Anton… Quinn Tupaea had a ruptured MCL and ACL tear in 2022 and played his way back into the AB's after 2 years rehab and a solid SRPacific season with the Chiefs…Dave Rennie was the Wallabies head coach when Darcy Swain was cited and only banned for six weeks….

S
SS 5 hours ago

Sad news about Segner, he’ll be back though. I do hope, though, that Ofa is in isolation away from the rest of the team! No offence to him, but we don’t want them all coming down with something

B
Brynlee 6 hours ago

I feel so bad for him, his career really started to take off and he might have even proved himself enough to play against the springboks. He was a great asset to the team and I’m sad to see him go, hope he has a speedy recovery ❤️‍🩹🖤

J
JW 9 hours ago

Hopefully the lack of information is a good thing. Really thought Hannah would have had much more involvement in this game. I liked both starting Locks even though they didn’t have a good game so to speak. Thought Hannah could have been an option for the last two tests.

C
ColinK 4 hours ago

He was only 2 days off the plane, with the 10hr time difference I am amazed he was able to play at all. I travel a lot long haul, and it’s tough from NZ. So maybe, with the jet lag they thought, just give him some minutes.

S
SC 9 hours ago

Lots of rugby still to be played and hopefully Segner will be ready to go for Bledisloe in October and second leg of Nations Cup in November.

K
KwAussie 10 hours ago

That’s a shame but he’s young and he’ll be back

A
Andrew Nichols 10 hours ago

So sad for him.

B
Blackmania 10 hours ago

Shame. I really would have liked to see Segner against the Boks. We’ll see him again later in the year.

That said, after seeing Blackadder’s performance today, I’m thinking the All Blacks have a very good option behind Jacobson.

S
SC 9 hours ago

I think Blackadder will step into Segner’s bench role as 6 and 7 cover, along with Lakai.

Load More Comments

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Long Reads

Comments on RugbyPass

Close Panel
Close Panel

Edition & Time Zone

{{current.name}}
Set time zone automatically
{{selectedTimezoneTitle}} (auto)
Choose a different time zone
Close Panel

Editions

Close Panel

Change Time Zone

Close
ADVERTISEMENT
Copied to clipboard

Share Article close