Canberra’s Jordan Rapana out for 2-3 weeks with rib cartilage injury

Canberra will be without Jordan Rapana for the next few weeks after scans confirmed the New Zealand Test star had suffered a rib cartilage injury.

Rapana hurt his ribs against Manly. AAP Image/Joel Carrett.

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Canberra will be without star winger Jordan Rapana for 2-3 weeks with a rib cartilage injury.

Rapana, who copped a knock in the club’s 24-20 loss to Manly last Sunday, had scans earlier this week confirmed the ailment.

It’s a blow for the Raiders, who dropped their second match of the season against the undermanned Sea Eagles thanks in no small part to the loss of their high-impact winger.

The 29-year-old was meant to miss the opening two months of the season with his shoulder injury from New Zealand’s end-of-year Tests, but was back in the NRL by round two.

Rapana has been replaced on the right wing by rookie Bailey Simonsson, who made a tryscoring NRL debut against the Gold Coast Titans in Round 1.

Meanwhile, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said ill-discipline was a bigger issue than his team’s defence in the loss to the Sea Eagles.

Canberra conceded more points than they have in any game this year, but it came as they lost the penalty count 13-5.

Rapana hurt his ribs against Manly. AAP Image/Joel Carrett.

Stuart wasn’t sure after the match if his team had been deserving of the lopsided count, or if there ruck speed was particularly slower than in previous weeks.

“Considering the amount of penalties that got - and that’s not to say they were wrong - I thought we did a good job to get where we,” Stuart said. “In one or two instances there were some penalties there that were ill disciplined.

“But I haven’t told them anything this week in regards to changing anything in the ruck. It was probably our turn.”

Originally published as Canberra’s Jordan Rapana out for 2-3 weeks with rib cartilage injury