All Blacks: Casualty wing

Injury has kept Sitiveni Sivivatu out of the All Blacks again. Photo / Herald on Sunday

The loss of Sitiveni Sivivatu to a knee injury will trouble the All Blacks selectors.

They were desperate to have him back, as he adds an attacking dynamic that none of the others do. He remains one of the best counter-attackers in the game, works strongly in the back three and is believed to have one of the best tactical minds in New Zealand rugby.

He also has 43 test caps and like Andrew Hore, who is also travelling after limited game-time, Sivivatu adds weight to the leadership of the team.

While it appeared to be a massive risk for the selectors to name Sivivatu, he is a freakish athlete with the rare ability to recover his natural instincts, conditioning and acceleration after barely a week of full training.

The All Blacks selectors were confident that if he could manage just one outing for Waikato, even off the bench, he'd be able to meet up with his international team-mates in London.

It is expected now he will spend the summer training with the Chiefs once his knee is fixed.

The All Blacks decided against a replacement, saying they were already well served with cover on the wing.

If they change their minds about that, the most likely choices would be either Rene Ranger or Ben Smith. The former has played tests this year and the latter is supremely conditioned after being in New Delhi with the Sevens team, having been called up as injury cover earlier in the year.

Sivivatu yesterday became the first casualty of the All Blacks tour long before the kick-off in Hong Kong last night and before the Waikato wing even made it out the country. The 27-year-old was more a hopeful rather than a confident selection - named in the 30-man squad despite not having played since dislocating his shoulder in mid-April.

Bizarrely, his shoulder is not the problem. Instead a knee injury is the cause of his troubles after taking a knock on it during last week's All Black closed-door inter-squad trial match before they departed for Hong Kong.

Sivivatu actually managed 40 minutes but complained of a sore knee when he came off. He was due to play for Waikato last night in the ITM Cup semifinal and then fly to London to join the All Black squad but was sent to have his knee scanned on Friday after being unable to run freely in training.

All Blacks doctor, Deb Robinson, said: "Siti had a scan in Hamilton on Friday which revealed that a bony fragment had come loose in his left knee. He will see an orthopaedic surgeon over the weekend and may require an arthroscopy."

It's not known how long Sivivatu will be out for but he definitely won't recover in time to play any part in the tour.

All Black coach Graham Henry says there are no plans to pull in a replacement. With Cory Jane, Joe Rokocoko and Hosea Gear as specialist wings and Isaia Toeava able to provide genuine cover, the selectors feel they are adequately covered.