{"id":388826,"date":"2025-09-01T08:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T08:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/388826\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T08:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T08:05:10","slug":"all-blacks-make-special-exemption-for-shock-call-up-v-springboks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/388826\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks make ‘special exemption’ for shock call-up v Springboks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The All Blacks have issued a squad update ahead of their Rugby Championship clash against the Springboks at Eden Park on Saturday.<\/b><\/p>\n

Scott Robertson is contending with a scrum-half crisis, with Cameron Roigard and Noah Hotham ruled out of the fixture against South Africa, which means that Finlay Christie and Kyle Preston remain in the squad.<\/p>\n

Cortez Ratima remains in doubt for the match after sustaining a rib fracture in the defeat to Argentina.<\/p>\n

Shock call-up<\/p>\n

Due to the growing injury list, New Zealand Rugby look to have made a special exemption to allow Robertson to select back Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku.<\/p>\n

Fainga\u2019anuku, who can play centre and wing, returned to New Zealand following a successful stint at French club Toulon, signing with the Crusaders for the next two seasons.<\/p>\n

However, he wasn\u2019t expected to be available for the All Blacks<\/a> until the northern end-of-year tour, due to New Zealand Rugby eligibility rules, but it appears the current injury crisis has resulted in an early call-up for the 25-year-old.<\/p>\n

He joins the squad as injury cover for Timoci Tavatavanawai, who will miss the remainder of the Rugby Championship after fracturing his radius during his appearance for Tasman in the National Provincial Championship (NPC).<\/p>\n

The All Blacks rookie will undergo surgery and is estimated to return in 12 weeks\u2019 time. Anton Lienert-Brown (concussion) and Tyrel Lomax (hand fracture) have both recovered from injury to re-join the squad in Auckland.<\/p>\n

All Blacks predicted team v Springboks: Scott Robertson forced to make changes but \u2018elite\u2019 forward bolsters stocks<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lock Patrick Tuipulotu will also miss the clash against the Boks<\/a> due to a facial fracture and is estimated to return to play in four weeks.<\/p>\n

He has not linked up with the squad that assembled in Auckland and neither has Roigard, who is recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot that will see him miss both fixtures with the Boks.<\/p>\n

Springboks bolstered as double World Cup winner recalled to squad for All Blacks Tests<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Fellow halfback Noah Hotham has had surgery for a high ankle sprain and is estimated to return in three to four weeks.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Caleb Clarke will be available for the second match against the Boks as he will remain with Auckland for another round of the NPC, and the same is true for Waikato\u2019s Luke Jacobson.<\/p>\n

Prop George Bower has been released from the Rugby Championship squad following the return of Tamaiti Williams but all other injury cover players \u2013 Tevita Mafileo, Josh Lord, Christie, Preston and Leroy Carter \u2013 remain with the squad.<\/p>\n

Finally, lock Sam Darry and halfback Xavier Roe join the squad as training cover.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/b>Springboks predicted team v All Blacks: Rassie Erasmus to back \u2018returning heroes\u2019 for Eden Park showdown<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The All Blacks have issued a squad update ahead of their Rugby Championship clash against the Springboks at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388827,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[225,90462,704,12,4151,33131,2196,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-388826","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-home-page","9":"tag-internationals","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-rugby-championship","14":"tag-south-africa","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115128010248366839","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}