Former All Black centre Ma'a Nonu is in a cast with a possible broken thumb, but it is unclear how the injury happened or how long it will keep him off the field.
The 22-year-old turned up to Wellington representative training yesterday in a "precautionary cast" as medical staff assess whether
he has suffered a break.
Nonu is unsure how he picked up the injury after coming through a club match on Saturday apparently unscathed, bar a tight calf muscle.
Wellington coach John Plumtree said it was unclear how long Nonu would be sidelined.
"The cast is precautionary. I was hoping to know today, but we are still waiting for a prognosis on whether it's a fracture or not."
Plumtree said the likely cause of the injury was a boxing session with the Lions squad on Tuesday.
Nonu joins a lengthening list of injured NPC players, including the Crusaders pair of openside Scott Waldrom and lock Ross Filipo.
Filipo had an operation on his groin following the Super 12, while Waldrom could be out for a month with an ankle injury suffered playing for the New Zealand Maori.
Others on the sidelines include openside Ben Herring (groin), and locks Ross Kennedy (shoulder) and Luke Andrews (calf), while Kristian Ormsby has been struggling with an ongoing back problem.
- NZPA
