Sitivenu Sivivatu is out of All Blacks tour
Prolific New Zealand winger Sitiveni Sivivatu will miss the All Blacks Autumn International Tests after the back suffered a knee injury.
Sivivatu had only just returned to the game after five months on the sidelines due to a shoulder injury that had required the player to undergo surgery.
The knee injury is a major setback for Sivivatu ahead of the tour. Scans showed that bone fragments had come loose in the player’s left knee after Sivivatu had complained of soreness to the area.
The winger’s injury will cause another headache for New Zealand coach Graham Henry, who is already missing a number of players for the tour of Britain and Ireland.
Fortunately, the All Blacks have plenty of world-class players like Joe Rokocoko and Israel Dagg to fill the void.
In any case, Sivivatu was not expected to start as the first choice winger for the All Blacks, since he has only recovered from his shoulder injury. Rokocoko will start on the wing against Australia along with Corey Jane.
New Zealand will play Australia this Saturday, 30 October in the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong, and this will mark captain Richie McCaw’s 90th cap.
Henry will be keen to maintain the All Blacks winning streak against Australia, which dates back to July 2008.
"Australia will again present a massive challenge for the All Blacks and we have picked an All Blacks starting side that has done outstandingly well this year."
The All Blacks will hope that they can win against Australia before they head to London ahead of their opening match of the northern hemisphere tour against England on Saturday, 6 November at Twickenham.
New Zealand will also play Scotland, Ireland and Wales in consecutive weeks before they return home.
On New Zealand’s previous tour, they beat all of the Northern hemisphere sides including France, the Six Nations Champions.
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