Wednesday Round Up

Henderson out with hip injury

Bad news out of Ulster today, as it has been revealed that promising young flanker Iain Henderson will be out of action for a number of months with a hip injury. The 22 year old will require surgery on a hip problem, with some news outlets reporting that he could be out until the New Year. This puts his participation in Ireland’s upcoming November international in major doubt. With South Africa and Australia both visiting the Emerald isle, Henderson’s injury would leave Ireland coach Jo Schmidt with limited back row options, with Leinster back row Jordi Murphy also currently suffering a shoulder injury. Henderson has been capped 12 times by the national side, and was a member of the squad which won last year’s competition with a thrilling victory against France in the final match. In a double blow for Ulster, Jared Payne has suffered a similar hip injury, but will be unavailable for the next two weeks only.

All Blacks to face Samoa

The All Blacks have today announced they will play a historic first test on Samoan soil in 2015. The match against Samoa will take place in Apia on July 8^th, and will be part of both New Zealand and Samoa’s preparations for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The two sides have met on 5 separate occasions, most recently in 2008 when the AB’s won by 101-14. Samoan rugby has been continuously improving since then, and the upcoming match up will no doubt be a much closer contest.

Messam and Whitelock succumb to injury

New Zealand have been dealt a double injury blow ahead of their all-important match against South Africa this weekend. Ahead of a game which will go a long way to deciding the eventual winners of the Rugby Championship, both Liam Messam and Sam Whitelock have been declared unavailable due to injury. Liam Messam injured his quadricep muscle in the first half against Argentina last weekend, and faces up to four weeks on the side-line. Sam Whitelock also faces 4 weeks off having damaged his rib cartilage early on in the same game. Steven Luatua looks like the man who will benefit from Messam’s misfortune, having missed out on the match day squad last weekend.

 Stepehen Beale