Anton Lienert-Brown: Chiefs fear the worst after star centre’s shoulder injury

The Chiefs expect the worst after star centre Anton Lienert-Brown was an early casualty to injury in Saturday’s defeat against the Blues in Hamilton.

Lienert-Brown left the field clutching his shoulder in the seventh minute of the Super Rugby Pacific encounter and the early signs suggest he could be sidelined for a lengthy period.

Chiefs head Clayton McMillan and co-captain Sam Cane were not optimistic when asked to assess Lienert-Brown’s injury after the match which the Blues won 25-0.

“Not great at the moment,” McMillan told Stuff about his player’s health.

“He’s putting on a brave face, but initial reports indicate it’s not looking good. His arm’s in a sling at the moment.”

The knock was sustained after a collision at a ruck with Blues scrum-half Sam Nock and it’s the same shoulder which Lienert-Brown hurt in the All Blacks’ loss to Ireland last November.

That injury ruled him out of New Zealand’s defeat to France the following weekend. The 26-year-old also had an elbow operation which kept him on the sidelines during the All Blacks’ opening Tests of 2021 against Tonga and Fiji and he has only made three appearances for the Chiefs in 2022.

“I certainly feel for him, he’s a massive part of our team,” said Cane. “I don’t want to feel too sorry for him yet, I’m going to hold my fingers crossed and hope that it’s not as bad as we thought. But probably gut feel is that he may be in a bit of strife.”

Things did not get better for the Chiefs after Lienert-Brown’s early exit as they failed to trouble the scorers for the first time in their history.

They went over the try-line on three occasions but all those scores were disallowed after TMO reviews. To make matters worse, three Blues players were yellow carded but the home