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New Zealand will host Fiji in the second test tomorrow. Picture: APP
All Blacks midfield maestro Anton Lienert-Brown will mark a “special” 50th test on his home ground after returning from an elbow injury he revealed had been troubling him for the past year.
The 26-year-old will be back in black in New Zealand’s second test against Fiji in Hamilton on Saturday night, after missing the opening two fixtures of the international season as he recovered from surgery.
Lienert-Brown bit the bullet to go under the knife last month following the Chiefs’ Super Rugby season, after his left elbow started to become just a little too problematic for his liking.
“It’s probably been something going on for about a year, but I managed to play through it. And then at the back end of trans-Tasman Super Rugby it sort of just got a bit too niggly. “I could play but it was sort of hindering my training. And obviously you want to train as well as you can so you can play well, too. “So it was one of those things that I needed to get done at some stage, and that was the time to get it done.” Now fully recovered – “Yeah, I can pass 50 metres further now,” he quipped – and able to finally straighten his arm fully once more, Lienert-Brown slots back in at centre, to form the third different starting midfield for the All Blacks in as many tests, looking forward to partnering up with David Havili.
The Fiji Times » Double blow for Blues; Highlanders unchanged fijitimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fijitimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Winger Sevu Reece scored a hat-trick as the Crusaders thrashed the Rebels 52-26 on Saturday but the unbeaten New Zealanders still look like missing out on next week's trans-Tasman Super Rugby final.