Former Wallaby Radike Samo is poised for a call up as a second-row crisis threatens the Queensland Reds’ Super 14 title hopes.
The Fiji-born 33-year-old may play his first Super rugby match in almost four years after the Reds lost both remaining second rowers to injury in the 32-12 loss to the Brumbies in the national capital on Saturday night.
The fourth-placed Reds can ill afford to take on the in-form Hurricanes in Wellington on Friday night without specialist lineout jumpers and will be sweating on medical checks and fitness tests this week.
Adam Byrnes left Canberra Stadium in a knee brace after sustaining ligament damage while fellow second rower Rob Simmons suffered a suspected fractured cheekbone.
The Reds were on Sunday awaiting x-ray results but it was feared both may have played their last Super games of the season.
The double blow comes on top of Queensland losing captain James Horwill in round one to a season-ending knee injury and with fellow second-rower Van Humphries struggling to overcome an ankle injury.
“We’re down four second-rowers basically, so that’s making it difficult,” Queensland coach Ewen McKenzie said.
“But we’ll look for a creative solution. Maybe we’ll get Van Humphries back. We’ll see what happens with his situation.
“Everyone takes damage at this stage of the season. It’s how you dust yourself off and get back into it.”
That “creative solution” may involve the Reds calling on the veteran Samo who was signed on a short-term deal two weeks ago as second-row insurance when Humphreys was injured.
Capped six times for the Wallabies in 2004, Samo, who played 44 games for the Brumbies from 2000-2006, has been playing in Japan since completing a two-year stint in France which brought a championship title with Stade Francais in 2007.
Humphries ran last week and was close to being available for the Brumbies fixture and McKenzie will be desperate to have him on deck against the Highlanders after the Queensland lineout and scrum functioned terribly in Canberra.
“We were basically playing with five back-rowers. We were battling at scrum time,” McKenzie lamented.
“It was tough work for us. We certainly didn’t get the result we wanted but these periodic losses we’ve been having tend to refocus us, so that’s what we’ll need for a quick turnaround against the Hurricanes.”
The Reds, who host the Highlanders in the final round, could slip to seventh with a loss to the sixth-placed Hurricanes.
“There’s been a bit of a revival in the tournament of the teams in the middle of the table and it’s going to make it a really interesting finish,” McKenzie said.
“It’s a matter of who can actually turn it around and play two good games in a row.
“We didn’t play well enough, so we’ve got to turn it around. We haven’t got any choice. We’ve got to bounce back. We’re obligated to do that.
“And we’ll clearly have to do that with some creativity if the injury toll is as big as I think it is.”
Flanker Daniel Braid is also in doubt for the Hurricanes game after soldiering on with an injured knee against the Brumbies.
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