'Gutted for George': All Black ruled out of SA tour
By Liam Napier in Cape Town
Taranaki and Blues hooker Bradley Slater is en route to South Africa after the All Blacks suffered an early tour setback.
A matter of days into the All Blacks’ gruelling seven-week tour, Crusaders hooker George Bell suffered an injury in one of the first training sessions in Cape Town.
Bell was added to the All Blacks’ 44-man squad for South Africa as the fourth-choice hooker behind Codie Taylor, Asafo Aumua and Samisoni Taukei’aho, but his tour is over before the opening match against the Stormers on Saturday morning (NZT).
Bell is heading home with the calf injury ruling him out for four to six weeks.
“We are all gutted for George, to be ruled out of the tour so early,” All Blacks coach Dave Rennie said. “He’s had a frustrating past few months with injury so it’s a real blow for him to have injured his calf again. We look forward to seeing him return via the NPC and put himself in a position to push for All Blacks selection later in the year.”
Canterbury and Chiefs hooker Brodie McAlister debuted for the All Blacks last year, making two appearances off the bench against France and South Africa, but under Dave Rennie’s new regime, test rookie Slater has usurped him in the pecking order.
Slater is well known to new All Blacks forwards coach Neil Barnes.
With Taylor, the All Blacks tour captain before Ardie Savea joins the squad ahead of the first test against the Springboks, not expected to feature in the opening match, Slater could be thrust into a black jersey in the first three tour games.
Regardless of when Slater features, joining the All Blacks for this tour is a once-in-a-lifetime call.
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