{"id":512574,"date":"2026-07-06T15:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512574\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T15:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T15:31:13","slug":"black-ferns-co-captain-kennedy-tukuafu-out-for-six-months-with-hamstring-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/512574\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Ferns co-captain Kennedy Tukuafu out for six months with hamstring injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cInjuries are always tough and this is a hard setback for someone who gives so much to the Black Ferns.<\/p>\n

\u201cKennedy leads with authenticity and care and her influence on this group extends well beyond what she does on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know she\u2019ll approach her recovery with the same resilience, professionalism and determination she shows every day. The whole Black Ferns wh\u0101nau will be right behind her as she works towards her return.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest in a frustrating run of injuries for the 37-test Black Fern. <\/p>\n

She suffered a knee injury during the Pacific Four Series last year but returned for the Rugby World Cup in England later in 2025. <\/p>\n

In 2022, Tukuafu suffered a dislocated knee, torn calf muscle and ligament damage from a knock in training, but she was again able to return later in the year and went on to be part of the World Cup-winning Black Ferns team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough I\u2019m out of action for a while, I\u2019m still closely involved with my team and I\u2019m grateful for the support from my teammates, wh\u0101nau and the wider rugby community,\u201d Tukuafu said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy focus now is on surgery, rehabilitation and doing everything I can to return to the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christopher Reive<\/a> joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cInjuries are always tough and this is a hard setback for someone who gives so much to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7022,27604,10541,19345,2082,66065,15258,3047,3234,111,139,69,3111,1523,6327,4739,213,193717,254964,102,379],"class_list":["post-512574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-black","tag-cocaptain","tag-ferns","tag-field","tag-for","tag-hamstring","tag-injury","tag-kennedy","tag-months","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-out","tag-over","tag-rugby","tag-six","tag-sports","tag-tukuafu","tag-tukuafus","tag-with","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}