The Canterbury Crusaders have surprisingly rested captain and star flanker Richie McCaw for their crunch Super 14 rugby match against the Northern Bulls in Pretoria this weekend, but denied a recurrence of head injuries.
It is the second successive match McCaw will sit out after leaving the field with a cut around an eye when the Crusaders were held to a shock 23-all draw by the Western Force two weeks ago.
Without McCaw, they then lost to the Western Stormers. McCaw said it was tough watching from the sidelines but the break was a chance to repair niggling injuries.
But he added none of the injuries were serious and there had been no repeat of the head blows, such as when he was knocked out against the Bulls last year, which kept him sidelined for several weeks.
Crusaders coach Robbie Deans also denied there were any renewed head injury concerns over McCaw.
”It’s just flatness basically. He’s got no symptoms of head injuries, he just hasn’t totally come up from the cumulative effect of the work,” Deans said of McCaw, whose most recent head injury ruled him out of last November’s Test against England.
The Crusaders, the defending champions, were unbeaten this season until they met the Stormers, and if they lose their next two matches they could miss out on this year’s play-offs.
Deans had suggested before naming the team on Wednesday that McCaw would probably be rested again to keep him fresh, given his big workload coming up.
”In the next two weeks, and hopefully in the next two weeks after that, we need guys to be in the best nick,” he said.
After playing the fifth-placed Bulls, the Crusaders return home to face the fourth-placed ACT Brumbies, and need two points to be guaranteed a semifinal berth. – AFP
