Hore set to miss Test against Ireland
Hooker Andrew Hore looks set to miss New Zealand’s Tests against Ireland and Wales in June after dislocating his shoulder during the Hurricanes’ 32-16 Super 14 defeat against the Waratahs.
Hore was forced from the field in the 22nd minute at Sydney Football Stadium yesterday and is facing at least six weeks on the sidelines, although it is possible he could miss the whole of the international season.
The best-case scenario of six weeks would see the 31-year-old, who started 11 of the 14 Tests last year, be available for the Tri Nations campaign against Australia and South Africa.
“The medical staff were saying it could be six weeks or it could be six months,” said Colin Cooper, who bowed out as Hurricanes coach after the defeat. “I’m not sure how bad it is to put a number on it.”
Hore’s injury will be a blow to All Blacks coach Graham Henry, who is already without leading players lock Ali Williams (Achilles) and wing Sitiveni Sivivatu (shoulder) for the year because of injury.
Full-back Mils Muliaina is recovering from a broken thumb, while last year’s All Blacks squad members Corey Flynn, Tom Donnelly, Jason Eaton and Mike Delany are also injured.
Blues hooker Keven Mealamu looks set to be the regular starter in the New Zealand front row with Chiefs pair Hika Elliot and Aled de Malmanche battling it out as his back-up.
“He’s pretty determined to be an All Black again and hopefully take part in the World Cup,” added Cooper of Hore.
“He’s certainly got the character and resilience to come back.”
That character and resilience was sorely missed by the Hurricanes in Sydney, where their chances of reaching a sixth semi-final under Cooper went up in smoke in an error-strewn performance.
Surprisingly it was senior players like Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu and Piri Weepu who were the biggest culprits as dropped balls and missed the tackles blighted their game.
“The last five weeks it’s been win or die, lose and go home. That continual pressure may have affected some of the boys, I’m not sure,” said Cooper.
“I just couldn’t believe the uncharacteristic mistakes we were making and missed tackles.
“In saying that, they (the Waratahs) had a pretty good first half and even though there was pretty good defence by us they attacked well and punished us.
“At half-time we were confident though because there was only nine points in it. But that really soft try we gave them (just after half-time) hurt us and their final try the bounce went their way and they scored.
“I guess from there we were always going to play catch-up. We had a number of times to score but we couldn’t. We kept attacking. They never gave up but in the end the better team won.”
