Brodie Retallick All Blacks draw with South Africa, lose Brodie Retallick to injury

The All Blacks drew with the Springboks on Saturday, but have bigger Rugby World Cup worries after an injury to Brodie Retallick.

An otherwise forgettable game of rugby ended in a 16-16 draw – the fourth stalemate between the two sides – at Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday night.

While the match won’t linger long in the memory for the on-field action, the sight of Retallick trudging off with 20 minutes to go in serious pain holding his forearm to cradle what coach Steve Hansen later said was a dislocated shoulder will endure in many people’s minds if his injury turns out to be significant.

Hansen said Retallick had gone to hospital immediately after the game, but the extent of the injury – and if his shoulder suffered structural damage – was not yet known.

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You can’t understate the lock’s influence on the team and his combination with Sam Whitelock has been immense. Vaea Fifita replaced him on Saturday night, but the All Blacks will want to get Scott Barrett back from his broken finger as soon as possible.

Outside of the Retallick injury, the main talking point was how bad a game of rugby it was. It was willing, sure, but every test match should be. The decided lack of quality from both sides made for