Super Rugby: 'We know there's going to be injuries' says All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster

An injured Ben Smith of the Highlanders is observed by medical staff. Photo / Photosport

In top level rugby, there will always be injuries. It's an unfortunate cost of one of the sporting world's more physical codes, and World Cup years are no exception.

The All Blacks have already lost the services of Chiefs star Damian McKenzie for this year's World Cup in Japan to a knee injury and on Saturday night there were fears they might have lost another player.

Highlanders fullback Ben Smith had to be taken from the pitch late in his side's draw with the Chiefs in Dunedin after slipping into a front-on tackle and going down awkwardly as a result. Speaking to the Radio Sport Breakfast, All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster said there was immediate concern when he saw one of the national team's most reliable players go down.

Touching base with All Blacks coach Steven Hansen and selector Grant Fox who were at Saturday's match, Foster was relayed information about the injury quickly and reassured it wasn't as bad as it looked.

"We've got a little bit of a texting network that happens. It depends on who's at the game and who's not – if you're at the game you've got a responsibility to find out a few things," Foster said.

"It's a significant injury, but one that's going to get him back in time (for the World Cup) which we're pleased with.

"It's one of those things where we know there's going to be injuries, it happens every year, it happens every world cup year, but we don't want them and when you see them happen your first thought is you just hope the player is alright because you know how much the player puts into the game and we want to see them achieve their dream."

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Smith suffered a hamstring strain and was ruled out of action for six to eight weeks, which means he'll likely miss the rest of the Highlanders regular season fixtures but be available for the playoffs and, most importantly, September's World Cup.

Despite the injury, Smith was still expected to attend the All Blacks foundation day for South Island-based players in early June.

"Those foundation days they come in for, it's really important we get all our leaders there particularly, and as you know he's a pretty important part of the whole team, so we'd be pretty desperate to have him there."