More importantly, coming as it has at this stage of his development, such a long layoff after knee surgery shapes as a major hit to his career.
The 22-year-old desperately needs plenty of rugby to build into a tough test forward, and not just a brilliant gap runner.
Fellow rising forwards George Bell and Sam Darry are also sidelined for the Super season. It’s also a blow to their long-term prospects.
WINNER: The Chiefs’ little bomb squad …
New strategies might be creeping into the game. Or maybe it is an early season thing. But Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan left a bit of firepower on his bench at Eden Park and came up trumps against the Blues. It certainly suited All Blacks rookie Cortez Ratima. If there is an early season title favourites, then the Chiefs are the ones.
LOSER: The Warriors’ victory
They thrashed a very weak Melbourne team in a trial in Hamilton, which makes this punter very nervous.
Anything that breeds over-confidence in the club has proved to be a bad thing over time.
After a disastrous 2024, the Warriors need to understand – deep in their souls – that their backs are to the wall.
Desperate times, people.
LOSER: Drug outrage
Players like Nick Kyrgios are furious at what they see as the light treatment of world tennis number ones Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek over doping violations.
Sinner, who won this year’s Aussie Open, has been suspended for just three months, meaning he will be back in time for the next Grand Slam tournament, in Paris.
How convenient, as just about everybody is pointing out.
Yet the drugs-in-sport issue doesn’t inspire the sort of public outrage it once did, stretching back to that infamous 1988 Olympic 100m aftermath involving Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson and plenty of others.
The public has been worn down. Drugs in sport is not a shiny and new subject anymore. There have been so many invented and perhaps legitimate excuses offered by those who are caught out that it has become a mass of confusion.
We don’t know who to trust in this game of smoke and mirrors.
People just want the whole thing to go away. And in some ways, it has.
WINNER: Ellesse Andrews, but:
The Kiwi Olympic track cycling superstar broke the world record for the new-ish women’s 1000m time trial distance, in Brisbane. But Dame Lydia Ko will almost certainly win the Halberg sportswoman of the year and supreme awards this week, after a stunning 2024 golf year. Andrews would be a worthy winner though, for her trailblazing achievements.
WINNER: Golf fans … Scottie Scheffler looks promising
The enigmatic world number one is showing signs that he has put the effects of a weird Christmas hand injury behind him.
The American suffered a puncture wound to his right palm while making ravioli (true story).
The golfer said the toughest thing has been rediscovering his touch.
Despite an awful third round, there was a lot to like about Scheffler’s game during the latest PGA tournament at the famous Torrey Pines course in California, finishing third.
WINNER: EPL football commentator Michael Owen
The best sports pundit on television. The former star English striker is a brilliant analyst and straight talker.
A sample this week … his take on Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim, after a defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
“I like him, I like what he says, I like his demeanour, but I don’t like his team at all,” said Owen, about the current boss of United, one of his former clubs.
He can be a lot more cutting than that, and is also more than happy to lavish praise.
It’s one gem after another from Owen, who stands out in a cluster of fine commentators on the English Premier League.
If only we had someone half as incisive and honest covering sport on Sky.
Is it really that difficult?
For example … when is the last time you heard a Sky commentator say that an All Black had a really poor game? Seriously.
WINNERS/LOSERS: Auckland FC
Steve Corica’s side have done an absolutely brilliant job in season one, flying high at the top of the A-league. It is a staggering achievement … they are challenging the A-League and other teams to raise the standards.
A measure of that success is the surprising number of people young and old wearing the black and blue strip around town.
We’ve also got a local derby to look forward to this week, against the battling Wellington Phoenix in Penrose on Saturday evening.
But Auckland FC are facing opponents far tougher than Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory.
They are called rugby and league.
Auckland FC have had the sports field almost to themselves over summer.
The honeymoon period is over. Super Rugby has ambled on to the stage, and the NRL will soon burst into life.
The impressive A-League newcomers, who have just notched another win in west Melbourne, are about to face a publicity reality check.
LOSER: Caleb Clarke
The powerhouse All Blacks and Blues back tried to explain why he (along with a handful of other players) opted out of Super Rugby’s new fantasy competition.
It sounded weak.
With all due respect, Clarke needs to have a re-think.
It seems as if he doesn’t want to carry the added burden of delivering on fans’ fantasy team dreams. Something like that.
Fantasy sport isn’t an optional extra.
It could be the saviour of rugby in this country, where the national sport has lost its grip on the masses.
There are already signs that rugby’s belated introduction of fantasy sport is working. I know people who say they are taking an interest in Super Rugby again because of the fantasy game.
Clarke has got to play his part.
LOSER: Warren Gatland … turning back the clock.
There were flashing signs that rugby had bypassed Gatland’s methods before Wales rehired him, a move that ended sadly last week with their once-revered Kiwi coach quitting the Six Nations battlers after 14 straight defeats.
LOSER: The one-sided Super Bowl
Boring, especially after all the thrillers of recent years.
WINNER: This quote about a loser
“He has the Midas touch when it comes to petrochemicals but that has turned into the kiss of death in the sports world.”
The Times columnist Matthew Syed on Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose Ineos has backed out of a deal with the All Blacks. Ratcliffe’s string of failures among his sports forays include his inability to turn Manchester United around and a split within the British America’s Cup team.
