Kahui ruled out of Test against Ireland
New Zealand have lost another midfield prospect for their upcoming Test matches against Ireland and Wales with Richard Kahui ruled out for three weeks with a rib cartilage injury.
The Chiefs centre was assessed by All Blacks doctor Deb Robinson on Wednesday where it was confirmed he had suffered a cartilage tear by his first rib on the left-hand side of his chest.
The injury occurred during the Chiefs' round 12 Super 14 defeat to New South Wales Waratahs and Kahui has been rehabilitating it since.
But Robinson confirmed that the 24-year-old, who missed all of last year's international matches following shoulder surgery, would need up to three more weeks before returning to rugby.
New Zealand play Ireland in New Plymouth on June 12 followed by Tests against Wales in Dunedin (June 19) and Hamilton (June 26), so if his recovery goes according to plan he could be an outside chance of returning for that final match at his home ground, Waikato Stadium.
"While I'm obviously disappointed, I just need to get on with my rehabilitation," Kahui said. "At the moment I can't do contact training or much upper body training but I can still work on skills and other parts of my game during this time."
New Zealand coach Graham Henry had been contemplating using Kahui, who has eight All Blacks caps, as a stop-gap measure at inside centre after incumbent Ma'a Nonu was ruled out of the June series with a knee injury.
Kahui had been due to play in that position for his club this weekend after a request from the All Blacks coach.
But Henry will now have to go back to the drawing board with his 26-man squad due to be named on Sunday.
One solution could be to move Stephen Donald to the number 12 spot outside Daniel Carter - a combination which has been used before with limited success - or give Luke McAlister another shot there despite underwhelming performances from him last year and an injury-plagued Super 14 season this year.
Henry may however opt for the uncapped Benson Stanley, who has performed well for the Blues this season, keeping McAlister on the bench when he has been fit.
There was mixed news on full-back Mils Muliaina, who missed a good part of the Super 14 with a broken thumb. He has had the cast removed from his thumb and that is progressing well but he won't play club rugby this weekend because of a calf problem.
Injury has also robbed Henry of Ali Williams (Achilles), Sitiveni Sivivatu (shoulder), Andrew Hore (shoulder), Mike Delany (shoulder), Isaia Toeava (hip) and Jason Eaton (knee), while Rodney So'oialo has been allowed to join the Barbarians for their upcoming matches against England and Ireland which would suggest he will not be involved in the first three Tests of the year.
