Another All Blacks Star Is In A Race To Be Fit To Face The Lions This Summer

The All Blacks injury crisis is real.

Dane Coles is the latest All Blacks star to emerge as a doubt to face the British & Irish Lions this summer. Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd has revealed the hooker is now suffering from concussion symptoms.

Coles has not played since he limped off with a knee injury in his side’s 41-15 victory over the Otago Highlanders on March 18. The Hurricanes captain subsequently suffered a calf injury at training that has kept him out, but Boyd then told reporters on Wednesday that he was now suffering from headaches during exercise.

“Colesy’s situation is complicated by the fact that… subsequent to his knee injury, he not only developed a calf strain but also some headaches,” Boyd said.

“He is now under a return to play protocol for concussion.”

Boyd said the Hurricanes had no idea when Coles suffered the injury that has resulted in the concussion symptoms.

“We genuinely don’t know where he got those symptoms from,” he added.

“We’ve had a look at the Highlanders game, which was the last game he played. He had no symptoms post that, so I’m not sure. The source of that is completely unknown to us.”

Coles began to suffer from the headaches as he increased his workload in recovering from the calf injury says Boyd.

“At the end of the day, he has started to return to train and developed some headaches,” Boyd said.

“It’s not normal, but if you look at it in context, because of his knee injury, the first part of his rehab was no training at all so, if there were symptoms post the game that would come out under exercise, they were not apparent.”

The All Blacks are also sweating on the fitness of captain Kieran Read and fellow back-row forward Jerome Kaino, who have both underwent surgery.