Brad Shields, the captain of the Wellington Hurricanes, is supporting his colleague TJ Perenara, who returned from an Achilles rupture this season, to get back on the All Blacks roster.
A week after surpassing his former Hurricanes teammate Julian Savea, scrum-half Perenara, 32, increased his all-time record for Super Rugby tries to 64 in a 31-27 loss over the Auckland Blues on Saturday.
The former England flanker Shields told AFP on Thursday that “he’s knocking on the All Blacks door and I would be surprised if they look past him.”
Next month, All Blacks coach Scott Robertson will announce his team for the July two-Test home series against England.
Perenara’s Achilles ruptured during a game against England in November 2022, forcing him to miss more than a year of action before making a comeback to Super Rugby in March.
“It speaks volumes for his mindset with the way he trains, after back-to-back Achilles injuries,” Shields said.
“Most individuals would be on the verge of giving up.
“He has put in a lot of hard work and it’s why he is back playing at this level and is the top try scorer.”
As the Hurricanes are ready to welcome struggling Moana Pasifika on Friday, Shields stated that they need to take lessons from their loss to the Blues.
The Hurricanes fell to second place in the standings for the first time after their second loss of the season in Auckland.
It’s a difficult pill to take. We didn’t put in our best effort, so we’re a little let down,” Shields remarked.
“We needed to take a couple more opportunities and there were a couple of tactical aspects we could have changed.”
The Hurricanes will return to the top with a win before the Blues play the Otago Highlanders on Saturday.
The Blues and Hurricanes are battling it out for first place with three games remaining; the winner will have home advantage when the playoffs begin in June.
Moana, headquartered in Auckland, has won three of its eleven games so far this season. Last Friday, they challenged the Waikato Chiefs early on but ultimately lost 43-7.
“They aren’t afraid to chance their arm, if you give them a good head of steam they are a pretty hard team to stop,” Shields stated.
“You saw that against the Chiefs, with their big ball carriers they’re dangerous, so we’ve got to be more physical.”
