New Zealand are sweating over the availability of a key player after the All Blacks secured their place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
An 11-try bonus-point victory over minnows Uruguay saw New Zealand progress to the playoffs on Thursday night.
However, the win came at a big cost for the All Blacks, as tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax was forced off just eight minutes into the match.
Lomax made his return from the thigh gash he suffered in the warm-up against South Africa off the bench against Italy.
The Hurricanes prop made his first start of the tournament against Uruguay but limped off before the 10-minute mark and looked dejected on the bench.
Equally worrying for the All Blacks is that Lomax’s replacement, Fletcher Newell, was also forced off late on in the match, prompting concerns around a tighthead crisis.
Speaking after the match, Ian Foster eased concerns over Newell, but said that Lomax’s injury is more serious and could potentially end his tournament.
“Fletcher was largely precautionary with his knee. Tyrel is a little bit more serious but we don’t know how serious. It looks like a medial [strain],” Foster said. “Those who know medials they can be a small strain or a large strain. It doesn’t look too bad.
“He’s got a bucketload of ice on his knee at the moment. We’ll look at that over the next 48 hours. Fortunately, we’ve got a couple of extra days which could be meaningful for us.”
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New Zealand will welcome loosehead prop Ethan de Groot back from a ban in the quarter-finals, but the opposite side of the scrum is now a worry.
Should Lomax be ruled out, the All Blacks will turn to Nepo Laulala to anchor the scrum, while loosehead Ofa Tu’ungafasi can shift across if necessary.
Photo: Adrian DENNIS / AFP