New Zealand is once again relying on an injured Lomax for the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals.
LYON, FRENCH REPUBLIC — Tyrel Lomax, New Zealand’s starting tighthead prop, is doubtful for the Rugby World Cup quarterfinals after suffering another leg injury.
On Thursday in Lyon, Lomax hurt the medial ligament in his right knee against Uruguay. He just lasted nine minutes of his first start since his right thigh was accidently gashed by studs in a loss to South Africa in late August.
The All Blacks are unsure how severe the strain is.
“We’re just getting some scans right now,” said coach Ian Foster on Friday. “It definitely appears to be a medial.” It doesn’t appear to be really noteworthy.”
The All Blacks defeated Uruguay 73-0, securing a quarterfinal position against Ireland on Sunday at Stade de France. They’ll know who they’re up against following Ireland’s game against Scotland on Saturday.
Fletcher Newell, Lomax’s backup against Uruguay, also came off late with a knee injury, but Foster maintained it was purely precautionary.
If Lomax is unable to play in the quarterfinals, which would be a setback, Nepo Laulala will most likely start.
Foster, who is at his fourth Rugby World Cup with the All Blacks, said he enjoys this part of the tournament.
“There’s no tomorrow for them,” he explained. “It just narrows down the focus, so keeping it simple like that is key for us.”
Last year, Ireland won their first series in New Zealand, while the All Blacks dropped their first home series in 28 years. Foster almost lost his job as a result of this, and he claims they learned from it.
“We got smacked and that’s OK — we took our medicine,” he went on to say. “We’ve been rebuilding nicely since then, so I’m pleased with our progress.” A little difficulty never damaged anyone if used correctly. The key to any road you pursue is to just admit your flaws and blunders and move on. I believe we’ve accomplished this. We’re prepared.”
Beauden Barrett started every game of Ireland’s series.
“What we know is the beast that Ireland are, and if you allow them to dictate up front and play the way they want to, they are a tough team to stop,” added Barrett.
“So if it’s Ireland in the quarterfinals it’s going to be great because there’s a lot of us who are pretty keen to get one up on them and still hurting from what happened last year.”
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