Jorgensen’s Lions hopes rest on surgery call after ‘hip-drop type tackle’

Max Jorgensen’s chances of lining up for the Wallabies against the British and Irish Lions in July will likely rest on a decision on whether the 20-year-old needs surgery on a badly injured ankle, suffered in the Waratahs’ loss in Wellington on Friday night.

Jorgensen and the Tahs limped back to Sydney on Saturday after copping a record 45-point thumping at the hands of the Hurricanes, in which they conceded nine tries.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s spirited return from injury was one of the few positives for NSW on a night where the wheels fell off. Jorgensen was helped off after his left ankle was trapped under Hurricanes defender Brayden Iose as he swung around the back of the youngster’s legs.

Jorgensen had scans on Saturday in Sydney and Waratahs coach Dan McKellar confirmed on Sunday it was a syndesmosis injury, which is damage to the ligaments which stabilise the fibula and the tibia at the ankle joint.

“He’ll definitely be for out for a number of weeks. It’s now just a matter of whether he is going to need an operation or not,” McKellar said. “Hopefully, we see him again.”

Typically, recovery times for syndesmosis injuries range from 6-12 weeks for mild to moderate injuries. But, for ligament ruptures that require surgical repair, it can take between three and six months.

Max Jorgensen was injured in this tackle.Credit: Stan Sport

There are eight regular season rounds of Super Rugby remaining. The Wallabies’ first Test against the British and Irish Lions is 16 weeks away.

“It was one of those hip-drop type tackles; it was kind of a heart-in-mouth moment because you could see he was hurt straight away,” McKellar said.

Hip-drop tackles are banned in the NRL and the NFL but are not illegal in rugby. There were calls for the hip-drop to be addressed in rugby last year when Lachie Lonergan suffered a broken leg in a Tate McDermott tackle.

Asked if he had concerns about hip-drop tackles in rugby, McKellar said: “That’s for the officials to sort.

Kini Naholo runs in one of his three tries.Credit: Getty Images

“You just don’t ever want to see young players missing multiple weeks with injury, especially when they’re just starting to perform like Max has this season.”

Jorgensen had major injury issues in each of his three seasons in Super Rugby, with a knee problem and a hamstring tear ending his previous two seasons. He also suffered a broken leg at the 2023 World Cup.

“This is just the really unfortunate part about footy. Max is pretty self-aware, and he understands this is part and parcel of the game,” McKellar said.

McKellar and the Waratahs coaches were reviewing the Hurricanes’ loss within hours of the defeat, courtesy of a 3am bus trip to Wellington airport on Saturday morning. The root cause wasn’t hard to find.

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii didn’t get enough ball in Wellington, according to his coach.Credit: Getty Images

“We were beaten up, physically. We lost the breakdown, we lost the contact battle, and you can’t go to New Zealand and beat anyone if you come second in the physical battle and in the collision areas.

“We were at 10-7 at 35 minutes, and could have gone into halftime right in the contest, but we let ourselves down.”

The Waratahs’ best stretches came in the first 10 minutes of each half, where they scored via consistent pressure. But poor kicking and continuous errors gave the Canes easy access to the Tahs’ half, and passive defence saw the Kiwis repeatedly convert territory in points.

“You can’t get bored with what’s working,” McKellar said. “When you are in the A-zone you have to come away with points, that’s the reality. And they did that far better than we did.”

Returning from a month out with a foot injury, Suaalii’s class was clear, even in a beaten team. Moved from centre to fullback, Suaalii’s last-line defence was strong and his attacking touches were good enough to wonder why he didn’t get way more, even with a third-highest 11 carries.

McKellar said the big takeaway was to do the obvious: give Suaalii the ball.

“It’s good to have him back. We had no momentum for a lot of that game so there was a limited amount he could do, but what we saw from him was very good in defence and around the park, and there were plenty of opportunities to get him the ball that we didn’t take, so that was probably the big learning - get the ball in his hands more often.”

Things get no easier for the Tahs this week, with a six-day turnaround before a clash with Moana Pasifika in Auckland on Friday. Moana smashed the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday.

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