You are in > manchester.com  > News > McCaw set to miss part of Tri-Nations

Rugby Union

McCaw set to miss part of Tri-Nations

22/06/2008

New Zealand captain Richie McCaw is set to miss the beginning of the Tri-Nations after suffering an ankle injury in the game against England on Saturday.

The All Black flanker limped off in the 27th minute of the Christchurch game and was later diagnosed with having a high ankle ligament strain.

The BBC claims McCaw will be sidelined for at least six weeks as a result, meaning he will miss the first four Tri-Nations games against South Africa and Australia.

The All Blacks will play South Africa on July 5th and again the week after, before taking on Australia on July 26th.

Coach Graham Henry expressed his satisfaction at his team's 44-12 victory over England on Saturday.

"We were reasonably happy. 44-12 is a good result against a good England team so we're pleased with that," Henry said.

"I think we're making some progress. I think if we had to come up with a result three weeks ago and say 'where would you like to be' this is probably bigger than we anticipated.

"We've got a lot to work on but we're scoring tries from set piece which is very positive. [There's] a lot to work on at the breakdown, I think we got better defensively as the game went on but we have got to do some work there was well.

"Overall a pleasing performance but frustrating because we're not quite where we want to be yet and there's a few injuries and we're not quite sure of the significance of those at this point in time."