All Blacks loose forward Luke Jacobson’s run of bad luck with injury has continued with the Chiefs’ flanker ruled out of the rest of New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aotearoa with a broken hand.
Jacobson suffered the injury in the Chiefs’ 24-12 loss on Saturday to the Blues. He would be out of action for up to six weeks, the team said on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old had only just recovered from a hamstring injury which restricted him to about 10 minutes of action in the wider southern hemisphere Super Rugby competition before it was shut down in March because of coronavirus.
He spent much of the off season recovering from a head knock which forced him out of the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup squad last year in Japan before the tournament started.
Before that, he had three serious concussions in 13 months.
Blues loose forward Tom Robinson (knee) and Crusaders captain Scott Barrett (foot) might also miss the rest of the 10-week competition.
Robinson had knee surgery on Monday after being injured in the Blues’ opening game.
“The diagnosis was six to eight weeks but we’re hoping it’s five to six weeks with a couple of byes in there,” Blues assistant coach Tom Coventry told reporters.
Barrett has a plantar fascia ligament issue and needs to see a specialist this week.