{"id":548623,"date":"2026-07-28T23:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/548623\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T23:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T23:30:11","slug":"blessed-and-grateful-recalled-all-blacks-flier-hopes-for-change-in-fortune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/548623\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Blessed and grateful’: recalled All Blacks flier hopes for change in fortune"},"content":{"rendered":"

All 44 players named in the All Blacks squad to tour South Africa have required resilience and fortitude to get where they are but few more so than Emoni Narawa, the man who punctured a lung while playing against the Springboks last year.<\/p>\n

Wing Narawa had just scored a try for the All Blacks at Eden Park a minute or so into the Test<\/a> last September before colliding under a high ball with a Boks opponent. <\/p>\n

He was forced to leave with field with what he initially felt was a back injury or sore ribs and was diagnosed with broken ribs, one of which had punctured a lung.<\/p>\n

That led to eight months on the sidelines but that wasn\u2019t the last of his bad luck. On his return to the Chiefs this year he broke a foot which led to another four months out. <\/p>\n

Narawa has also recently recovered from a wrist injury and ruefully reminded 1News yesterday while on a visit with several All Blacks teammates<\/a> to Birkenhead Primary School on Auckland\u2019s North Shore that he was ruled out of the 2023 World Cup after the first week with a slipped disc in his back.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be called back into the squad is pretty special and a reward for all those who helped my rehabilitation journey and my family,\u201d Narawa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably haven\u2019t had the smoothest run in the All Blacks jersey. Luck just hasn\u2019t been on my side. Hopefully that changes. I\u2019m just really blessed and grateful to be back in the squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old Narawa, who has played only four Tests since making his All Blacks debut in 2023, is a pacey and elusive runner who appears ideally suited to head coach Dave Rennie\u2019s attacking game plan.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Emoni<\/p>\n

Emoni Narawa walks from the Eden Park pitch after his rib injury. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

Narawa is one of seven outside backs in the squad and appears to be the main rival for Will Jordan\u2019s No.14 jersey but he can also play fullback. He could also be a good chance to play in the team\u2019s opening match against the Stormers in Cape Town on August 8.<\/p>\n

Loose forward Ethan Blackadder deserves credit for coming back from his own injury challenges but few can beat Narawa\u2019s misfortune.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019ve got a good squad and we know the challenge ahead of us,\u201d Narawa said of the South African tour. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhether we\u2019re named to play or not the whole team is chasing one dream and that\u2019s putting on a good performance over there. We know what\u2019s coming. Obviously, they\u2019re a proud nation and love their footy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Loosehead prop Ethan de Groot, meanwhile, is looking forward to coming up against the best scrum in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always nice playing the Springboks, they\u2019ve been dominating scrums for I don\u2019t know how long,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to test yourself against the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t mess around and play games and collapse scrums. They\u2019re honest scrummagers, so I like that part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

de Groot said he was supposed to make his Highlanders debut against the Lions in Johannesburg in 2020 but the trip was called off due to Covid.<\/p>\n

While he has several Tests against the Boks under his belt, he has yet to play a South African club team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to seeing what they\u2019re all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including a powerful quake hits Japan, Winston Peters lashes out at the Greens, and a shark bite caught on camera. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All 44 players named in the All Blacks squad to tour South Africa have required resilience and fortitude…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548624,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-548623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548623","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=548623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}