22 Aug 2013

Carter, Cruden, Barrett all out

6:39 am on 22 August 2013

Reminiscent of their World Cup injury woes, an All Blacks first five injury crisis has arisen ahead of the second Bledisloe Cup test with Dan Carter, Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett all ruled out through injury.

On top of that lock Luke Romano will miss the rest of the Rugby Championship after suffering a groin injury in the weekend's win over Australia.

Carter, who was ruled out last week, has been joined on the sidelines by Barrett with a calf injury and Cruden who has knee ligament damage and could be out for up to six weeks.

Barrett's calf strain is minor though and he's expected to be fit for the side's next test against Argentina, in Hamilton on September 7th.

Canterbury players Colin Slade and Tom Taylor are with the squad - Taylor's been named to start ahead of Slade, who's had a series of injury problems in the past couple of years and the last of his 10 tests was against Argentina in the 2011 World Cup quarter-final.