New Zealand received a major injury blow before the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals when the loosehead prop Tony Woodcock was ruled out of the tournament after tearing his right hamstring.
The 34-year-old, who has played 118 times for the All Blacks, limped from the field early in the second half of Friday’s 47-9 win over Tonga in their last Pool C match. New Zealand announced that Woodcock’s injury would rule him out for three weeks and that he had been replaced in the squad by Joe Moody.
It means Woodcock’s career is over, as he announced in June he would retire when the World Cup ended. The New Zealand coach, Steve Hansen, said: “It’s not a great way for a great player to play his last Test match if he’s going to retire, so it is disappointing for him. But sport’s like that, it can be quite cruel.”
Woodcock made his Test debut in 2002 and became a fixture in the New Zealand side for a decade, becoming one of just six men to have played more than 100 games for the All Blacks. He scored New Zealand’s only try in their 8-7 win over France in the 2011 World Cup final.
Hansen added: “He’s an unsung hero. “Woody just got better and better, and he’s been a great player. He’s a very mobile footballer and a skilled rugby player. He can reflect on his career at some point when he’s ready to do that with a lot of satisfaction, and New Zealanders can be very proud of him.”
Hansen has been rotating his props this tournament and Woodcock was not guaranteed to start in the quarter-final against Ireland or France next weekend. But his experience made him a valuable member of the squad, and he could stay in the camp despite his injury.
Moody, 27, who made all of his eight Test appearances last season, was due to play for his Canterbury province in a National Championship match on Saturday but instead headed to the airport to join the All Blacks squad.
He will be a back-up to the four other props in New Zealand’s squad – Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Ben Franks and Owen Franks.
The New Zealand centre Conrad Smith said Woodcock had taken the news well. “Even hearing him talking to his wife on the bus behind me [after the Tonga game], he said: ‘Oh well, these things happen.’ It will be a big loss for us and we’ll be hurting for him for sure.”
The New Zealand centre Ma’a Nonu earned his 100th cap against Tonga in Newcastle, an occasion that saw him run out on to the St James’ Park pitch by himself to take the acclaim of the crowd, score the All Blacks’ seventh and final try and be carried off the field on the shoulders of his team-mates.
Nonu said: “I was very lucky to get the pitch all to myself. Having that time out there was special. I wanted to play it down and just get out there and play, but Kieran Read was telling me ‘no’ and that I had to go by myself, but it was good.
“Getting towards 100 caps looked like a long shot last year when I broke my arm [against South Africa], but it came round so quickly. I just feel really honoured and privileged that I’ve made it this far and I couldn’t have done it without the help of my family and the All Blacks. I was pretty stoked to get the try too.”
The world champions have made an uncharacteristic number of errors despite winning every pool game. The fly-half Daniel Carter said: “There are no guarantees. We need to be the best we can be. The Millennium Stadium is amazing and probably my favourite to play at in the world. Whoever we come up against is going to be a huge challenge and one that we’re really going to have to step up for.”
