Hape suffers injury setback

12 April 2012

Super League leaders Bradford were dealt a major injury blow on Tuesday when New Zealand Test centre Shontayne Hape was ruled out for the rest of the season with ruptured knee cruciate ligaments.

The 25-year-old will be sidelined for six months, which could jeopardise his chances of playing for the Kiwis in the three-match Test Series against Great Britain in the autumn.

Hape limped off in the second half of Sunday's 29-22 defeat by Catalans Dragons after being sandwiched in a heavy tackle.

"We're really, really disappointed to lose him like this," coach Steve McNamara told the Bradford Telegraph and Argus. "He's obviously choked and cut up.

"It looks like he'll miss the rest of the season. It's possible he could be back if we get to the play-offs but it's five to six months at least."

Hape was the Bulls' leading scorer last season when he was an ever-present and has totalled 78 tries in 114 games since joining the Yorkshire club from Auckland Warriors in 2003.

James Evans, Bradford's close-season signing from Wakefield, is the obvious replacement when the Bulls face Castleford in the Carnegie Challenge Cup on Friday.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in