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Crusaders captain Scott Barrett to undergo surgery

Scott Barrett. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)

Crusaders captain Scott Barrett, who started at blindside flanker in the All Blacks‘ loss to England during last year’s Rugby World Cup semi-final, has been ruled out of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season.

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The 26-year-old second-rower injured his foot in the Crusaders’ intra-squad match held last weekend and was unable to lead his side in their first match over the weekend with Codie Taylor instead handed the captain’s armband.

Coach Scott Robertson was less than confident when queried prior to the match against the Hurricanes whether Barrett would feature at all this season and the latest news out of the camp has confirmed that Barrett is to undergo surgery on his plantar fascia tendon.

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Auckland Blues winger Caleb Clarke talks about being a part of the back to back wins his team have enjoyed to begin Super Rugby Aotearoa.

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Auckland Blues winger Caleb Clarke talks about being a part of the back to back wins his team have enjoyed to begin Super Rugby Aotearoa.

“After consultation with a foot specialist, it has been determined that Scott will miss the remainder of the Investec Super Rugby Aotearoa competition to undergo surgery and allow sufficient time to recover. Exact return to play dates are uncertain at this stage,” the Crusaders announced on Wednesday.

38-year-old Alex Ainley has joined the Crusaders in Barrett’s place. The favourites to take out the new Super Rugby Aotearoa competition still boast a competitive second-row unit with Sam Whitelock and Luke Romano both experienced All Blacks and Quinten Strange and Mitch Dunshea earmarked for big futures.

Taylor will take over the full-time captaincy role.

The Crusaders will host the Chiefs in Christchurch this weekend and have sold over 11,000 tickets to the game, despite a damning weather forecast.

The Chiefs are yet to win a game in the competition while the Crusaders scored five tries against the Hurricanes in Wellington on Sunday.

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SK 58 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

The way they are defending is sometime pathetic to be honest. Itoje is usually on the inside of the rush and he is paired with a slower tight forward. Unable to keep up with the rush we have seen the line become disconnected on the inside where the big boys are. How many times have we seen Earl rush past the first receiver almost into no mans land covering no attacker. It looks like a system without any guidance. Tome Wright, Ikitau and a number of Wallabies went back to this soft centre as did Williams, Jordan and several others. Also when the line is broken the multiple lines of defence seems to be missing. The rush is predicated on a cover and recovery system with multiple lines of defence but with England you dont see it any more. Fitness and conditioning seems to be off as well as players are struggling to keep up with the intensity of the rush. Felix Jones has left a huge hole. The whole situation was and is a mess. Why they insist on not letting him go and having him work remotely is beyond me. Its leading to massive negative press and is a hot button issue thats distracting from the squad. Also the communication around Jones and his role has been absolute rubbish and is totally disjointed. While some say he is working remotely and playing a role others are saying theres been no contact. His role has not been defined and so people keep asking and keep getting different answers. England need a clean break from him and need to start over. Whatever reason for his leaving its time to cut the rope before the saga drags the whole Borthwick regime down. As for Joe El Abd well good luck to him. He is being made to look like an amateur by the whole saga and he is being asked to coach a system thats not his and which has been perfected and honed since 2017 by Nienaber, Jones, Erasmus and Co and which was first started by White in 2004. He is literally trying to figure out a system pioneered by double world cup winning coaches at the highest level and coach it at the same time. Talk about being on a hiding to nothing.

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