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Thu, Feb 22, 2024, 12:57 PM
Waratahs Media
The NSW Waratahs can confirm that centre Lalakai Foketi sustained an injury to his neck at training in Daceyville today.
Foketi was taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick by ambulance following the incident which occurred during the field session this morning.
The club is awaiting the results from the scans and Foketi’s family are with him in hospital. Club representatives have been on hand to provide support throughout the day.
The Waratahs would like to thank the amazing staff at the Prince of Wales Hospital and will provide further updates on Foketi as they come to hand.
Waratahs star Foketi in hospital with neck injury
Story by Darren Walton, AAP • 7h
Wallabies centre Lalakai Foketi has undergone scans after being taken to hospital in an ambulance with a neck injury sustained at NSW Waratahs training.
Foketi was treated for more than half an hour by medics after an apparently innocuous incident during a session on Thursday at the Waratahs' Daceyville base in Sydney.
Coach Darren Coleman initially reported the 29-year-old had movement in his fingers before the club released a statement.
"Foketi was taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick by ambulance following the incident which occurred during the field session this morning," the club said.
"The club is awaiting the results from the scans and Foketi's family are with him in hospital. Club representatives have been on hand to provide support throughout the day.
"The Waratahs would like to thank the amazing staff at the Prince of Wales Hospital and will provide further updates on Foketi as they come to hand."
The injury comes just two days before the Tahs' season-opening Super Rugby clash against the Queensland Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
Foketi, a member of Australia's World Cup squad last year and the scorer of the Wallabies' try of the season in 2022, had been named to start at inside centre in a star-studded midfield with Izaia Perese.
Coleman will almost certainly need to find a replacement and may consider promoting teenage sensation Max Jorgensen from the bench into the starting XV.
Jorgensen only made his comeback from a fractured fibula in a trial last Saturday against a combined Manly and Warringah outfit.
The 19-year-old survived 40 minutes unscathed after being forced home early from the World Cup in France without featuring in any of Australia's games.
Should Coleman go that way, Jorgensen would likely start at fullback and Joey Walton be shifted to the centres.
Otherwise Mosese Tupulotu, the brother of Scotland midfielder Sione, may come into the centres to team with Perese, allowing Jorgensen to be eased back into the fold as the Waratahs had hoped.
The Reds beat the Waratahs handsomely in Roma two weeks ago, before Coleman's side also lost comprehensively to the Melbourne Rebels in a second trial.
But prop Angus Bell insists there's no need for panic.
"We came into that week not wanting to show very much. You don't want to show your hand before you play them and certain things that we think will work against the Reds in a trial," Bell said on Thursday.
"It's not down to that. We weren't good enough in some aspects and gave them too much time.
"(But) we've gone the past two years winning all our trials and we've come into the season and got opposite results. Trial form doesn't mean much, it's about us getting back into our footy.
"We weren't happy with the results, but we're excited that we get to prove everyone else wrong this weekend when we beat the Reds at Suncorp."
Waratahs centre set to miss season-opener against Reds with neck injury
Story by Tom Decent, SMH • 4h
Wallabies and Waratahs centre Lalakai Foketi has been taken to hospital after suffering a neck injury at training on Thursday that is all but set to rule him out of his side’s Super Rugby Pacific season opener against the Queensland Reds this weekend.
A day after being named at No.12 for the Waratahs ahead of their clash at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, Foketi came off the training field after hurting his neck before being taken away in an ambulance from the team’s base in Daceyville.
Foketi was taken to hospital for precautionary scans, with results expected to be known by Friday.
The Waratahs say Foketi was responsive and able to move this fingers after the incident, which took place at a ruck. Onlookers say it was an innocuous knock.
Foketi’s wife and father met him at hospital after an injury that is likely to see the talented midfielder miss multiple matches.
“Foketi was taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick by ambulance following the incident which occurred during the field session this morning,” a Waratahs statement read.
“The club is awaiting the results from the scans and Foketi’s family are with him in hospital. Club representatives have been on hand to provide support throughout the day. The Waratahs would like to thank the amazing staff at the Prince of Wales Hospital and will provide further updates on Foketi as they come to hand.”
The 29-year-old was a member of the Wallabies’ World Cup squad in France.
New fullback Joey Walton could shift to inside centre, where he has played previously, with Max Jorgensen a chance to come into the starting side at No.15.
The Waratahs have been eager to monitor Jorgensen’s return from a fractured fibula that he picked up at the World Cup but may be forced to give the 19-year-old extra minutes in Foketi’s absence. Mosese Tupulotu is another option to partner Izaia Perese (No.13) in the centres.
NSW players will have to put news of Foketi’s injury to the back of their minds as they try and start fast in enemy territory.
Queensland won four straight matches against NSW in 2021 and 2022 before the Waratahs secured a 32-24 victory in Townsville last year. A favourable result in Brisbane would mark the first time the Waratahs have chalked up back-to-back wins over the Reds since May 2019.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
The SMH article has been updated to say that Foketi was taken for "precautionary" scans and that the injury will see him miss "multiple matches". That doesn't sound as dire as the statements last night. I hope.
'Ordinary scene': Coach lifts lid on shocking training incident
Story by Sam Worthington • 18m
Teenage sensation Max Jorgensen has been promoted to the NSW starting lineup following Lalakai Foketi's neck injury on Thursday.
Jorgensen was originally named on the Waratahs bench but will now start at fullback in Saturday's Super Rugby Pacific season opener against the Reds in Brisbane.
Joey Walton, who had been named in the No.15 jersey, has taken Foketi's spot at inside centre while Jack Bowen has replaced Jorgensen on the bench.
A team spokesman told Wide World of Sports that Foketi went to ground after carrying the ball in a seemingly innocuous training incident but didn't get up from the ensuing ruck.
He was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick where he had a CT scan and his concerned wife and father gathered in support.
Foketi has been cleared of spinal damage but it is unclear how long he will be sidelined for.
"It was an ordinary scene. It wasn't great," Waratahs coach Darren Coleman said on Friday.
"We're hoping the positive news will continue. He's got full feeling."
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
shit.
I have played in a match where someone broke their neck and ended up a quadriplegic. It is horrifying, and you never realise the implications or change on the day. This was also innocuous.
really happy to hear that he has been cleared of any permanent damage. what a scary time for him and his family & friends.
I am sometimes frustrated by the lack information about injuries and return edtimates. This leaves me asking why rush to release a public statement without any confirmation of the extent?![]()
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
Foketi out of hospital with sights on Waratahs comeback
Sun, Feb 25, 2024, 8:57 AM
AAP
A loss to Super Rugby Pacific rivals Queensland Reds has been softened by the positive outlook for star centre Lalakai Foketi, who could be back at the club within a week.
The Wallabies centre was hospitalised last Thursday after hurting his neck at training.
Some fears were allayed when initial scans cleared the 29-year-old of major spinal damage.
The forecast improved again when he was able to leave hospital on Friday and watch Saturday's season-opener from home.
Coach Darren Coleman said Foketi had suffered ligament damage to his neck, similar to the injury suffered by Sydney Roosters NRL back Dom Young last week.
And the coach said he could be back, performing light exercise in a neck brace, at their Daceyville base within a week.
"He watched the game tonight from home, there's some ligament damage in the neck," Coleman said, thanking all those who had sent messages of support.
"He'll go through that, see a neuro specialist next week but he should be in and around the place sometime next week or the week after ... to start rebuilding from there.
"All in all, he's in good spirits."
The Waratahs failed to match the Reds on a wet Brisbane night on Saturday, beaten 40-22.
The Reds turned the ball over 14 times but caused plenty of issues around the ruck and in set piece, the Waratahs' usually reliable line-out picked off by Reds captain Liam Wright.
Coleman tipped his cap to the Reds and blamed his side's poor execution for their inability to keep up after the lead changed six times in the first-half.
It gets no easier for Coleman's side, up against the Crusaders, Highlanders and Blues in the next three weeks.
"I'm excited to play the Crusaders next week; coming off a loss too, they'll be pretty fired up," captain Jake Gordon said of their Melbourne Super Round assignment.
"We've got some stuff to improve on and learn.
"If we can do a little bit more of what we did in that first half tonight we'll have a crack."
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.