Bulldogs’ Faitala-Mariner hurt in NZ loss

New Zealand’s Raymond Faitala-Mariner may have played all but five minutes of his Test debut with a broken hand.

Kiwis staff are concerned over the injury, which came in New Zealand’s 36-18 loss to England at Mile High Stadium in the US city of Denver on Sunday.

NRL clubs fought hard against the match taking place because of the potential for injury.

“Ray’s got a sore hand,” said Kiwis coach Michael Maguire after the match.

If confirmed, the injury to the Bulldogs forward would be the only one.

Meanwhile, veteran hooker Issac Luke reversed a pre-match suggestion that he may retire from representative football, saying: “I’ll put my hand up”.

Maguire said he wanted the Warriors No.9 around – although he may not be available for the end-of-season tour of England and France.

The coach nevertheless predicted he would take a strong side on tour, with a number of unavailable stars returning to the fold.

“I’m going to take a lot away from that game,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of experience sitting on the sideline and to bring that experience back in … you’ve got to remember, England have got an experienced team.

“They’ve been playing together for quite some time and the young guys who’ve come in, they now know the level they’ve got to go to.

“I think they should take a lot of confidence out of periods of that game, we really challenged them and we actually dominated.”

Luke said the altitude was “pretty tough, to be honest” but the Kiwis “rolled them over in the first 20 minutes”.

Maguire admitted to being taken aback in his first experience coaching in Test football.

“This is the first time I’ve been fortunate enough to be around the international game and its actually very special. I always knew it was special but it’s right up there in the experiences I’ve been able to have as a coach and we should bring it together more,” he said.

“I hope everybody recognises how special international football is.”

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