Super Rugby Aotearoa: All Blacks prop Atu Moli and three others ruled out for the season as Chiefs injury toll mounts

By RugbyPass.com

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Although the Chiefs will be taking part in the brand new Super Rugby Aotearoa competition for the remainder of the season, their growing injury toll remains consistent with the problems they've faced since Super Rugby's inception may back in 1996.

In the front end of this year's regular competition, men like Angus Ta'avao, Atu Moli and Damian McKenzie spent time on the sidelines though injury while Nathan Harris was ruled out for the year before the first match even kicked off. Yesterday, it was announced that new All Blacks captain Sam Cane will also miss the opening match of the Aotearoa competition.

Now, the Chiefs have confirmed that Moli – as well as locks Michael Allardice and Laghlan McWhannell and outside back Sam McNicol will all be out of action for the remainder of the season.

Atu Moli. Photo / Photosport

With Brodie Retallick on a sabbatical, Allardice has carried a heavy load for the Chiefs in 2020 and was the only experienced out-and-out lock in the squad, with Tyler Ardron also spending much of the season in the second row despite typically playing the loose forwards. Allardice has undergone shoulder reconstruction surgery.

McWhannell, meanwhile, is in his second season with the Chiefs but is still yet to earn any minutes due to a torrid run of injuries – the latest requiring a patellar tendon debridement.

Young Taranaki second-rower Tupou Vaa'i, who was a member of last year's New Zealand Under 20 squad, has now officially joined the side and will back-up the likes of Ardron and his Under 20s teammate Naitoa Ah Kuoi.

No replacements have been made for Moli (who will undergo FAI surgery on both left and right hips due to chronic hip dysfunction) or McNicol (ankle surgery) who are both in the final years of their contracts with the Chiefs and New Zealand Rugby.

McNicol has fought his way back from many an injury since his Super Rugby debut for the Hurricanes back in 2015 but the latest set-back will be even more frustrating for the talent utility, given he is potentially fighting for a contract for next season.

The Chiefs kick-off their Super Rugby Aotearoa campaign against the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday evening.

This article first appeared on RugbyPass.com and has been republished with permission