Moody to go under knife, Test season over

Sep 10, 2017 - 1:33 AM All Blacks boss Steve Hansen has lamented the loss of Joe Moody for the remainder of the Test season with a shoulder injury, claiming the loosehead prop had been the best in the world in his position this year.

The 31-Test Moody dislocated his shoulder in Saturday's 39-22 victory over Argentina in New Plymouth, with post-game tests confirming the worst.

He'll require shoulder surgery in the coming days and will be sidelined for six months, ruling him out of the Rugby Championship run-in and northern tour.

With veteran tighthead Owen Franks out for the season with an Achilles tendon issue and Charlie Faumuina France-bound, Moody's injury is problematic.

Of Hansen's remaining props, only back-up loosehead Wyatt Crockett - with 64 Tests to his name - has played for the All Blacks more than 10 times.

Two-Test Chiefs player Kane Hames will re-join the squad.

"We've lost Moody who's probably the No.1 loosehead in the world at the moment, I think, and then you lose Owen and Charlie on top," Hansen said.

"So we've lost three out of four."

Hansen said the All Blacks would look to bring in another prop for the side's upcoming Rugby Championship trips to Buenos Aires and Cape Town.

Tim Perry, Mitch Graham and Pauliasi Manu were named as potential candidates for the role, with Crockett and Hames to lead the loosehead charge.

Regardless, it was an opportunity to blood new talent in the No.1 jumper, having enjoyed continuity on both sides of the scrum in 2015 and 2016.

Following the losses of tightheads Franks and Faumuina, Nepo Laulala and Ofa Tu'ungafasi had performed admirably as a one-two punch.

Hansen felt the pair had done well to bully the Pumas' scrum.

"We can either sit here and sulk about that or we can say right, here's an opportunity for us to have to grow some talent, give people opportunities. In the past people have stood up, and we're going to need (that)," Hansen said.

"There's not a lot of well-known names but that's usually the case when you've had consistency - other guys don't build their case until they get an opportunity.

"We're pretty fortunate with what's coming through in the tightheads and I think, within six months, we'll probably be saying the same about the looseheads."

Source: AAP