Injured duo of the All Blacks prepare for return to Rugby Championship

A pair of injured All Blacks could reportedly return to action sooner than expected in what would be a significant boost to New Zealand Rugby Championship preparations.

According to a report from the New Zealand Herald, injured duo Scott Barrett and Ngani Laumape are making “promising” and “encouraging” recoveries from long-term injuries that have kept them on the sidelines for months.

Crusaders lock Barrett was banned from his team’s title-winning Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign in June due to a toe injury requiring surgery.

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As such, he also missed the North vs South clash and was not included in Ian Foster’s 35-man All Blacks squad named earlier this month, leaving New Zealand second-row stocks without much experience.

Patrick Tuipulotu and Sam Whitelock share 147 test matches with each other, but will be joined by boundless prospects Quinten Strange and Tupou Vaa’i, who have benefited from the absences of starters Barrett and Brodie Retallick (sabbatical).

However the Herald reports that Barrett will join that quintet of players after the first round of the Rugby Championship as part of an additional 11 players who will travel with Foster’s 35-man starting team to Australia.

The inclusion of Barrett would inject 36 additional tests of experience into the playing group and act as another mentor to Strange and Vaa’i, who will likely play a bench role in the upcoming Bledisloe Cup events in Wellington and Auckland.

Joining Barrett for a quick recovery is Hurricanes midfielder Laumape, who suffered a premature forearm fracture during the Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign after finding himself in good shape.

Considered by much of the New Zealand public to be one of the fittest midfielders in the competition prior to his injury, the 27-year-old has not been seen since sustaining that injury during the Hurricanes’ surprising 34-32 win over the Crusaders. in July.

However, like Barrett, the Herald claims he is expected to be included in the expanded All Blacks Rugby Championship squad, joining fellow midfielders Jack Goodhue, Anton Lienert-Brown and Rieko Ioane.

Crusaders running back Braydon Ennor was also included in that contingent, but the star of an international game suffered an ACL injury while playing for the South Island earlier this month, meaning there is already a vacancy that Laumape must fill.

Peter Umaga-Jensen, Wellington’s outstanding midfielder, has also been chosen to make the national team as part of the 11 additional players following a string of outstanding performances for the Hurricanes in recent months.