New Zealand fullback Mils Muliaina and stand-in flyhalf Colin Slade were both ruled out of the Rugby World Cup yesterday as fresh injury woes hit the All Blacks’ bid for global rugby glory.
Muliaina was sidelined with a fractured shoulder and Slade, who replaced star playmaker Dan Carter — ruled out with a tournament-ending groin tear — saw his World Cup end with a groin injury as well.
Hosea Gear and Stephen Donald will replace Muliaina and Slade respectively in New Zealand’s squad, with the All Blacks playing Australia in a World Cup semi-final at Eden Park on Sunday.
Photo: AFP
“Have we got the depth? We’ll find out in the next two weeks, I guess,” New Zealand coach Graham Henry told reporters yesterday.
“They [Muliaina and Slade] are both very disappointed to have tournament-ending injuries, so it’s a difficult situation and Hosea Gear and Stephen Donald join the team tomorrow morning,” Henry said.
Both Slade, for whom a World Cup exit was the worst possible birthday present as he turned 24 yesterday, and the 31-year-old Muliaina suffered their injuries in a bruising quarter-final victory against Argentina at Eden Park on Sunday.
Photo: AFP
Slade limped off in the 33rd minute of the 33-10 win before Muliaina, who on Sunday became only the second All Black after captain Richie McCaw to play 100 Tests for New Zealand, left the field midway through the match.
All Blacks doctor Deb Robinson said the pair’s injuries were so severe that, with only two weeks of the tournament left, neither man would have enough time in which to recover before the end of the World Cup.
“Scans have today confirmed that Mils has a fracture in his shoulder and he has been withdrawn from the tournament,” Robinson said. “It doesn’t require an operation and he’ll take six to eight weeks to get better.”
The sidelining of Slade brought Aaron Cruden into play eight days after he was rushed into the team following Carter’s injury.
Asked if Cruden is now New Zealand’s top flyhalf, Henry said: “It looks that way, doesn’t it?”
“Obviously, they [Carter and Slade] were the first two flyhalves chosen and that is a setback, but that’s the reality,” he added. “Where we are lucky is that the guys coming in have played Test match football in recent times and they’ve been with this group over the last 12 months, they’ve been here, they know the rugby we are trying to play.”
Henry said outside backs Israel Dagg and Richard Kahui, who missed the Argentina win with injuries, would be fit come the weekend.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but