Mauger told The Christchurch Press: “I felt a sharp pain after kicking the ball and it blew up after the match. It was better to get it dealt with as soon as possible“.

The second-five eighths had hoped to recover enough to play a part in the remainder of the tour, but when that hope vanished team management sent Mauger home to get the injury dealt with.

Christchurch surgeon Ian Penney “cleaned out” the scar tissue around the small tear in the ligament and Mauger was told rehabilitation should not impede him from taking part in the All Black conditioning programme at the start of the year.

Meanwhile, New Zealand coach Graham Henry has criticised an Auckland journalist for his scathing criticism of forthcoming opponents Wales.

New Zealand Herald columnist Chris Rattue caused a furore after his column on Wednesday.

But former Wales coach Henry told the newspaper: “We are very embarrassed about the article in the paper and I was very annoyed and angry about it. I still am.

“I am going to sort the fellow out when I get home because there is 100 years of history here, 100 years of history between these two nations.

“I think we are closer to the Welsh rugby team than any other we play against. For a guy to write that sort of article just made me very, very annoyed and I apologise to the Welsh people about that article.

“It is very uncalled for. I don’t even know if this fellow has been to Wales. You get one or two idiots in every village and we have obviously got one over there.”