More troubling news for Gatland

INJURY UPDATE: Chiefs head coach Warren Gatland received some bad news regarding one of his star players.

All Black loose forward Luke Jacobson will be out of action for a lengthy period.

"Jacobson sustained a fractured metacarpal against the Blues on Saturday 20 June. The rehabilitation period is approximately five to six weeks, leading to Jacobson’s unavailability for the remainder of the 2020 Super Rugby Aotearoa season," the franchise said in a statement.

Jacobson has suffered through an injury-ridden career with concussions regularly causing problems for the young Waikato man.

After making his Chiefs debut in 2018, Jacobson took a knock to the head in the final round of the competition and missed the entire Mitre 10 Cup. Last year, concussion limited his appearances for the Chiefs, but the promising loose forward was still selected in the New Zealand national squad for the first time.

Jacobson was initially selected to travel to Japan – despite having played less than a half of rugby for the All Blacks – but was pulled from the competition before he could take the field. He made two appearances for Waikato last year prior to the World Cup but, after returning home, focussed on fully recovering from his concussion symptoms.

It is a big blow for Gatland's Chiefs who have already lost their opening two games of the season.

They went down 27-28 to the Highlanders in Round One before losing 12-24 to rivals the Blues in Round Two.