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Injury update ahead of next weekends Bledisloe Cup encounter

New Zealand hooker Dane Coles. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand hooker Dane Coles will miss the Bledisloe Cup clash with Australia on Saturday after suffering another head injury setback.

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Coles spent four months on the sidelines and revealed he considered retirement as he struggled with concussion before making his comeback in Hurricanes’ Super Rugby quarter-final win over Brumbies last month.

The 30-year-old was set to make his All Blacks return for the Rugby Championship clash in Sydney next weekend, but took another knock to the head in the ‘game of three halves’ against Taranaki and Counties Manukau in Pukekohe on Friday.

Coles was taken off as a precaution and his Hurricanes team-mate Ricky Riccitelli has been called up as cover.

The world champions’ medical team will assess Coles, who has 49 caps to his name, in the build-up to the encounter with the Wallabies, but he will play no part at ANZ Stadium.

Nehe Milner-Skudder and David Havili will also miss the trans-Tasman after they were released from the All Blacks squad.

New Zealand go into the match as strong favourites, but captain Kieran Read knows Michael Cheika’s men are capable of turning it on.

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“They’ve got something that we know if they put it together they’re a dangerous side.” he said.

“Our respect to them is we turn up and play as well as we can because we know what they can bring. So I think that shows on the field.

“Our biggest respect to opposition is that we go out there and bring the best game that we can. That shows that we respect them and we’re going to go out there and do that again next week.”

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Tom 7 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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