'Don’t be surprised' if Emoni Narawa's replacement 'is a loose forward'

Just one game into the Rugby World Cup, New Zealand’s loose forward squad depth has been depleted.

The All Blacks survived their opening match against France with no injuries sustained within the lines of Stade de France, although they were forced to switch up their lineup the morning of the match.

Captain Sam Cane was the man to be ruled out of the tournament’s grand opening with a back injury that was aggravated at the captain’s run the day before kick-off.

In his place, Dalton Papali’i traded the blindside for openside flank and Tupou Vaa’i donned the No 6 jersey.

Former World Player of the Year Brodie Retallick made an ahead-of-schedule return from injury to take a last-minute position on the bench.

The changes stretched what was already an exhausted squad depth in the back row, having two of the five loose forwards injured forced Vaa’i to drop back from his familiar position at lock just to field enough men.

Adding to head coach Ian Foster’s woes is another back injury, this time to winger Emoni Narawa who has been ruled out of the World Cup campaign altogether.

The loss, while devastating for the young Chiefs star, presents an opportunity to bolster what is an under-resourced loose forward unit.

“Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?” Foster said after his side’s opening match loss to France.

“The injuries over the last 10 days have put us under a bit of pressure. I thought Tupou [Vaa’i] played well for large periods and then ran out of steam a bit.

“We probably brought ‘Guzz’ [Brodie Retallick] back a week earlier than we wanted, but we have got him back up to speed now. We will be bringing someone in and don’t be surprised if it is a loose forward.”

The All Blacks were an outlier in their decision to take 18 forwards and 15 backs to the World Cup, with most teams opting for a 19/14 split.

The apparent options for loose forward replacements are the recently capped Samipeni Finau or the freshly free-from-injury Ethan Blackadder.

Finau was selected as a travelling injury reserve for the World Cup campaign so logically would have the inside running, but Blacakkder’s experience and form in 2023 earns the utility forward some consideration.

Ardie Savea captained the New Zealand team in the absence of Sam Cane and said it was a tough blow to lose the usual skipper the morning of the match but the team needed to adapt.

A timeline hasn’t been offered for Cane’s recovery but all signs point to a return to training this week.

“He put his back out in yesterday’s captain run,” Foster said. “Just lifting someone from kick-off, so we looked at him this morning and he wasn’t quite right so that’s why we made the change.”