Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

'It is what it is': Bristol confirm lengthy spell out for Luatua

(Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Bristol have admitted that the pre-season injury suffered last month by former All Blacks back-rower Steven Luatua has turned out to be serious enough to sideline him until between mid-November and early December. The 31-year-old, who arrived at the Bears in 2017 after a 15-cap career for New Zealand, was set to play the August 19 friendly away to Brive only to pull up lame in the final training session before travelling.

ADVERTISEMENT

The setback left him wearing a protective moon boot and director of rugby Pat Lam said at the time, “Stevie had been flying. It was probably the best I had seen him in pre-season. It is very frustrating, he was going to go to Brive and then in the last session he strained his calf. At the moment he is probably not going to make the start of the season.”

With a definite prognosis now known, Luatua will miss way more than just the start of the season. “Stevie is going to be at least a twelve-weeker,” admitted Lam at his midweek media briefing ahead of this Saturday’s round two Gallagher Premiership game at Wasps.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

“He is looking around mid-November, December. It’s okay. It is what it is. It is an opportunity for Stevie to get better and he still contributes off the field.

“It is pleasing that we have got Sam Jeffries who can play across the back row, Jake Heenan across the back row, having Sam Lewis on board is great, also Chris Vui who can jump into six as well and Dan Thomas is not too far off from his (ankle) niggles, and having Magnus Bradbury is great. Guys will step up.”

Related

Another player who will be absent from this weekend’s trip to Wasps will be Ellis Genge, last Saturday’s man of the match in the dramatic win over Bath. The ‘rest’ agreement with England will see him sidelined until the round three home match the following week against London Irish. “We put out a comprehensive plan that Eddie (Jones) was very pleased with, his team were pleased with, the RFU, the PRL and the RPA,” explained Lam, who has a plan plotted for Genge through to 2023.

“If we didn’t put a plan out I 100 per cent would have said, ‘No, he is no playing (against Bath), you have to wait’. Having a good staff I always say is important because these specialists all work together to get the right plan and most importantly the player is front and centre to ensure he is able to play at his best and enjoy what he does.”

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

H
Hellhound 52 minutes ago
South Africa player ratings | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

There is this thing going around against Siya Kolisi where they don't want him to be known as the best national captain ever, so they strike him down in ratings permanently whenever they can. They want McCaw and reckons he is the best captain ever. I disagree.


Just like they refuse to see SA as the best team and some have even said that should the Boks win a third WC in a row, they will still not be the best team ever. Even if they win every game between now and the WC. That is some serious hate coming SA's way.


Everyone forget how the McCaw AB's intimidated refs, was always on the wrong side, played on the ground etc. Things they would never have gotten away with today. They may have a better win ratio, but SA build depth, not caring about rank inbetween WC's until this year.


They weren't as bad inbetween as people claim, because non e of their losses was big ones and they almost never faced the strongest Bok team outside of the WC, allowing countries like France and Ireland to rise to the top unopposed.


Rassie is still at it, building more depth, getting more young stars into the fold. By the time he leaves (I hope never) he will leave a very strong Bok side for the next 15- 20 years. Not everyone will play for 20 years, but each year Rassie acknowledge the young stars and get them involved and ready for international rugby.


Not everyone will make it to the WC, but those 51/52 players will compete for those spots for the WC. They will deliver their best. The future of the Boks is in very safe hands. The only thing that bothers me is Rassie's health. If he can overcome it, rugby looks dark for the rest of the rugby world. He is already the greatest coach in WR history. By the time he retires, he will be the biggest legend any sport has ever seen

4 Go to comments
J
JW 1 hour ago
'They smelt it': Scott Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' vulnerability

No where to be seen OB!


The crosses for me for the year where (from memory);


This was a really hard one to nail down as the first sign of a problem, now that I've asked myself to think about it. I'd say it all started with his decision to not back form and fit players after all the injuries, and/or him picking players for the future, rather ones that could play right now.


First he doesn't replace Perofeta straight away (goes on for months in the team) after injury against England, second he falls back to Beauden Barrett to cover at fullback against Fiji, then he drops Narawa the obvious choice to have started, then he brings in Jordan too soon. That Barret selection (and to a lesser extent Bell's) set the tone for the year.


Then he didn't get the side up for Argentina. They were blown away and didn't look like they expected a fight and were well beaten despite the scoreline in my opinion. Worst performance of the year in the forth game and..


Basically the same problems were persistent, or even exaggerated, after that with the players he did select not given much of an opportunity, with this year having the most number of unused subs I can remember since the amateur days.


What I think I started to realise early on was that he didn't back himself and his team. I think he prepared the players well, don't get me wrong, but I'll credit him with making a conscious choice in tempering his ambition and instead choosing cohesion and to respect (the idea of it being important in himself and his players) experience first and foremost (after two tight games and that 4th game loss). I think he chose wrong in deciding not to be, and back, himself. Hard criticism.


And it played out by preferring Beauden to Dmac on the EOYT (though that may have been a planned move).


I hope I'm right, because going through all the little things of the season and coming up with these bullets, I've got to wonder when I say his last fault is one we have seen at the Crusaders, playing his best players into the ground. What I'm really scared of now is that not wanting a bit of freshness in this last game could be linked with all these other crosses that I want to put down to simple confidence issues. But are they really a sign that he just lacks vision?


Now, that's not to say I haven't seen a lot of positives as well, I just think that for the ABs to go where they want to go he has to fix these crosses. Just have difficult that will be is the question.

27 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Gatland defiant but Welsh rugby no nearer escape route with Springboks looming Gatland defiant but Welsh rugby no nearer escape route with Springboks looming
Search