Losing Vaa\u2019i and Lomax are significant setbacks as both are starters in the All Blacks\u2019 first-choice forward pack. <\/p>\n
Lomax requires surgery on his broken thumb and Vaa\u2019i is also expected to go under the knife<\/a> after tearing the meniscus in his knee at training in Perth last Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cHe clicked his knee the week before. He got through training but then he stood up and it locked on him. He\u2019ll see the surgeon now so it\u2019s tough for him, he\u2019s been in good form,\u201d Robertson said of Vaa\u2019i.<\/p>\n The All Blacks are likely to call up Blues lock Sam Darry or Chiefs counterpart Naitoa Ah Kuoi for the northern tour but Vaa\u2019i\u2019s breakdown presence and versatility, having started at lock and at blindside this season, will be difficult to replace.<\/p>\n Hurricanes prop Tevita Mafileo is expected to replace Lomax while Finlay Christie is likely to continue being involved, with Crusaders halfback Hotham sidelined for the remainder of the year by another ankle setback.<\/p>\n Otago halfback Dylan Pledger is the future alongside Cam Roigard but the 20-year-old is yet to play Super Rugby Pacific and is therefore likely to be selected in Jamie Joseph\u2019s All Blacks XV. <\/p>\n There will be more intrigue, though, in who the All Blacks turn to as Narawa\u2019s replacement. The Chiefs wing suffered a season-ending blow to his ribs after scoring the opening try against the Springboks at Eden Park.<\/p>\n With Robertson confirming Narawa won\u2019t return this season, Crusaders wing Chay Fihaki or Highlanders flier Caleb Tangitau could be in line for promotion.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was a tough injury for Emoni,\u201d Robertson said. \u201cIt was worse than we hoped or expected. He\u2019ll be out for this year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got a good understanding [of the replacement players] and we\u2019ve got an All Blacks XV to select along with Jamie Joseph. They\u2019ve been watching the NPC and who\u2019s in form so that\u2019s a tough team to pick as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got some great depth and competition. We\u2019ve given a few guys a crack at it and they\u2019ve taken it. Test rugby takes a lot [out] of you mentally and physically so we\u2019re really pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n As he reflected on the Rugby Championship, Robertson regretted conceding the title to the Springboks for a second successive year but after finally delivering back-to-back victories<\/a>, he believes the All Blacks are improving.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted Argentina to slip one at the end there and finish top but it wasn\u2019t to be. To push a team like the Springboks right to the end shows how deep the Pumas squad is and how well-coached they are. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re pleased with what we controlled. Both teams were extremely motivated for many reasons. To play like that in the wet, we were stoked. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s some fine margins. That first game against the Springboks at Eden Park, we got into a title-fight arm wrestle and then the next week it got away on us. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s some things we\u2019re making really good progress in like the aerial battles. Some set piece stuff can make a big difference week to week. We feel like we\u2019ve done that pretty quickly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would\u2019ve been nice to have had another crack at the Springboks this year but we\u2019ll get plenty at them next year so we look forward to that.\u201d<\/p>\n Liam Napier<\/a> is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Losing Vaa\u2019i and Lomax are significant setbacks as both are starters in the All Blacks\u2019 first-choice forward pack.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,5263,20437,25428,8136,3013,1738,18239,2082,3011,71,10813,15258,4486,23362,111,43,139,1536,529,7977,69,4476,1527,12860,6327,49963,10814,49962,165,61,42032,208,274,1533],"class_list":["post-60756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-all","tag-barrett","tag-beauden","tag-blacks","tag-but","tag-campaign","tag-championship","tag-for","tag-four","tag-from","tag-grand","tag-injury","tag-month","tag-needed","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-north","tag-northern","tag-nz","tag-replacements","tag-return","tag-revealed","tag-rugby","tag-setbacks","tag-slam","tag-suffer","tag-their","tag-to","tag-toll","tag-tour","tag-travel","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60756","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=60756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}