{"id":648887,"date":"2026-11-02T16:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/648887\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T16:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T16:24:13","slug":"kiwis-suffer-injury-blow-but-confirm-surprise-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/648887\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwis suffer injury blow, but confirm surprise replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New Zealand<\/a> Kiwis have suffered an injury setback ahead of their Rugby League<\/a> World Cup semi-final against Tonga<\/a>, with Jacob Laban<\/a> ruled out for the remainder of the campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old has been ruled out with a lower-leg injury, after scans confirmed it following a missed training session last week. <\/p>\n

Laban made his Kiwis debut in their clash against the Cook Islands<\/a> in the second round of the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"2025SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – FEBRUARY 07: Jacob Laban of the Warriors is tackled by Chris Vea’ila of the Sharks during the NRL pre-season match between Cronulla Sharks and New Zealand Warriors at Sharks Stadium on February 07, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Newcastle Knights<\/a> hooker Phoenix Crossland<\/a> has been called into the Kiwis squad as his replacement. <\/p>\n

Crossland was serving a four-match ban after his hip-drop injury on Nathan Cleary<\/a> in the Knights semi-final clash against the Penrith Panthers<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crossland has been in camp with the squad and training with the side, and the opportunity to take the field for the Kiwis will be his first game in six weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NRLSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – SEPTEMBER 27: Phoenix Crossland of the Knights is sent off by referee Gerard Sutton after a hip-drop tackle on Nathan Cleary of the Panthers during the NRL Preliminary Final match between the Penrith Panthers and Newcastle Knights at Accor Stadium on September 27, 2026, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Kiwis head coach Stacey Jones<\/a> shared his disappointment around Laban’s injury, particularly around his fantastic season with the New Zealand Warriors<\/a> this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really disappointing for Jake and for us after the outstanding year he has had,\u201d Jones said to nzrl.co.nz<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crossland was certain to make the Kiwis squad before his ban and will now form an anticipated one-two punch with Dolphins<\/a> rake Jeremy Marshall-King<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Newcastle star has represented New Zealand<\/a> six times since 2024, with his most recent appearance for the Kiwis being their Pacific Championship grand final victory over Toa Samoa<\/a> in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"NewCHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND – OCTOBER 27: Phoenix Crossland of New Zealand passes the ball during the men’s 2024 Rugby League Pacific Championships match between New Zealand Kiwis and Australian Kangaroos at Apollo Projects Stadium on October 27, 2024 in Christchurch, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The Kiwis now shift their attention to Saturday’s semi-final against Tonga<\/a> at McDonald Stadium in Newcastle, after their dominant 78-0 win against Fiji<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New Zealand Kiwis have suffered an injury setback ahead of their Rugby League World Cup semi-final against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":648888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-648887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648887","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=648887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/648887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/648888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=648887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=648887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=648887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}