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'Isn't looking good': Chiefs preparing for loss of All Black centre to injury

(Photo by Michael Bradley/Getty Images)

The Chiefs are keeping their fingers crossed for All Black centre Anton Lienert-Brown, but head coach Clayton McMillan and captain Sam Cane fear the worst after he was forced from the field clutching his shoulder.

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Lienert-Brown was attempting to steal the ball at a ruck over Blues fullback Stephen Perofeta when an innocuous clean out by Sam Nock left the centre clutching his right shoulder just five minutes into the contest.

He was left in a sling and will undergo scans to diagnose the shoulder, but head coach Clayton McMillan said it ‘doesn’t look great’ and feared another stint on the sidelines for the All Black midfielder.

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“Not great at the moment, I don’t think. He’s putting on a brave face but initial reports aren’t looking good,” McMillan said.

“I’m not sure [what it is]. His arm is in a sling at the moment.

“He got a big bang on it in a jackal. Someone’s come in and hit him in the spot. Might be just one of those things that turns up tomorrow and it’s better but initially it doesn’t look
great.”

Captain Sam Cane was hopeful but his gut feel was that Lienert-Brown ‘may be in a bit of strife’.

“Certainly feel for him. He’s a massive part of our team and he’s probably closing in on 100 games too.

“I’m not gonna feel too sorry for him yet. I’m gonna hold my fingers crossed and hope that it’s not as bad we [initially] thought but probably gut feeling is that he may be in a bit of strife.”

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Lienert-Brown has had rotten luck with injuries over the last 18 months with surgery on his elbow ruling him out of the All Blacks tests against Tonga and the first one against Fiji before he was rushed back for the second test.

On last year’s end of year tour he injured the same shoulder against Ireland and missed the final test against France.

The loss of their experienced centre so early in the contest was just one of many unlucky aspects of the Chiefs’ night, as a number of ruled out tries kept them scoreless.

Despite the challenging night, head coach McMillan still has sights on making a run for a high finish to secure playoff fixtures at home.

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“The goal was nine wins but obviously we didn’t come close to that. I just think it’s really important that you just keep ticking over points. We started off really well and then the
last two or three weeks, we’ve had a little bit of a rollercoaster,” he said.

“We’ve certainly had our ups but we’ve well and truly had our downs. What is there, six, seven games left?

“You’ve just gotta respect each and every one of them and if you do that, then you give yourself a decent chance at picking up points and finish in the top eight and obviously a high as can in that top eight to give yourself some sort of advantage around home quarter-final, semi-final.”

 

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H
Hellhound 20 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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