Crusaders lose All Blacks flanker Ethan Blackadder for rest of campaign

Injuries continue to derail Crusaders star Ethan Blackadder's career, with the latest hiccup ruling him out of the rest of the Super Rugby Pacific playoffs.

After struggling with a calf niggle most of the season, Blackadder's return lasted just five minutes in their quarter-final win over Fijian Drua on Saturday.

“Many weeks,” head coach Robertson said of the yet-to-be determined recovery timeline.

“He did a good job, as Ethan tends to do with it. We really feel for him, he trained so hard to get back, just his couple of little touches in that four minutes was pretty amazing...just shows what we’ve missed.”

Limited to five appearances (four starts), Blackadder is one of 12 Crusaders unavailable through injury for Friday night’s blockbuster semifinal against the Blues in Christchurch, while three others – Macca Springer, Noah Hotham and Taha Kemara – are tied up with the NZ under-20s.

In addition to Blackadder, lock Zach Gallagher (calf) was also injured against the Drua last week, meaning captain Scott Barrett and Quinten Strange are the final men standing from the group of five locks named for the 2023 season.