The Crusaders will be without All Blacks pair Richie Mo'unga and Ethan Blackadder for the start of the new Super Rugby Pacific season, coach Scott Robertson says.
Neither Mo'unga nor Blackadder have travelled with the Crusaders' squad to Queenstown, where the first three weeks of Super Rugby Pacific will be played.
All six New Zealand-based Super Rugby sides are currently in Queenstown, operating in a bubble to mitigate the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak disrupting the competition.
The Queenstown bubble will be in place for the opening three rounds of the competition before the six sides return home for the rest of the Super Rugby season in the hope New Zealand's outbreak of the Omicron variant will have subsided.
As the All Blacks already observed a longer break following their end of year tour, 27-year-old Mo'unga, 27 will have a further break due to a clause in his NZ Rugby contract.
"Once we come out of the bubble, he's available to play," Robertson says of Mo'unga.
"He'll be available [for] round four, against the Chiefs."
Meanwhile, Robertson also updated Blackadder's condition, battling a hamstring concern suffered on the All Blacks' northern tour, and seeing Argentinian captain Pablo Matera take the Crusaders' No.6 jersey during Super Rugby's pre-season.
The length of time out for Blackadder will also see him absent from Super Rugby's Queenstown bubble.
"We're gonna start [Matera] at six," Roberson continued. "Ethan Blackadder's out for two to three weeks at this stage - maybe longer, just with an injury off the back of the end of year tour."
The Crusaders begin their Super Rugby Pacific season against the Hurricanes on February 19 at Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium.
Join Newshub for live updates of Super Rugby Pacific from February 18.
