Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau unlikely to play any part in Rugby Championship
THE Wallabies have suffered a blow with hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau likely to miss the remainder of The Rugby Championship due to a hamstring injury.
THE Wallabies have suffered a blow with news hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau is likely to miss the remainder of The Rugby Championship due to a chronic hamstring injury.
Polota-Nau missed the Wallabies’ Test series against the British and Irish Lions with a broken arm, and a planned return for the Waratahs in the final round of Super Rugby was dashed when the big hooker tore his hamstring in training.
Polota-Nau recovered from that injury but a subsequent tear in a new spot on the right hamstring recently has sidelined the 28-year-old forward again.
Ewen McKenzie had hoped to have Polota-Nau’s grunt back in his team soon, notably in the Wallaby scrum and at the collision zone.
But the chances of Polota-Nau returning in The Rugby Championship are now slim, with Ewen McKenzie’s men playing South Africa and Argentina over the next three weeks, and then flying out on September 22 for the return fixtures.
"Given I’ve done in a different area this time, they say it’s chronic so by the scheme, it’s very unlikely I would be trying to push it to make those games," Polota-Nau said.
"There are no firm dates about playing. It’s a week-to-week thing, I guess."
The Wallabies play the All Blacks on October 19 in Dunedin, and depart for the five-Test spring tour a week later.