Aumua sidelined for 3 months

A wrist injury is set to sideline Hurricanes hooker Asafo Aumua for the next three months. Aumua has had surgery on the fracture and faces six weeks on the sidelines. The Hurricanes then expect the 20-year-old to require a further six weeks rehabilitation.

The injury was suffered in the team's 38-37 win over the Sharks and leaves the Hurricanes pretty light on hookers with captain Dane Coles out until July, at the earliest, with a knee injury. Canterbury's Nathan Vella has been drafted in as the Hurricanes' third hooker, behind Ricky Riccitelli and James O'Reilly.

"Whether he returns for playoffs, which hopefully he will be, we'll be pretty happy with that," Hurricanes assistant coach John Plumtree said of Aumua.

Aumua and Coles both attended Monday's All Blacks "foundation" day in Wellington, on the Coles front, Plumtree said even a return in late July "was a bit of an unknown."

Eleven Hurricanes were at the foundation day, including halfback TJ Perenara and wing Nehe Milner-Skudder. One's very near to a return to playing, while the other's not due back until late June.

Perenara is able to do things such as lift weights, but his knee ligament injury will keep him out of footy for another four to six weeks.

"Whether we see him before the June [test match] break, we're not sure. Probably not," Plumtree said.

Milner-Skudder, meanwhile, will either play in Thursday's Hurricanes Development XV game against Japan A in Levin, or when the Hurricanes host the Sunwolves at Westpac Stadium on Friday.

Full Story via stuff.co.nz