Injuries leave Henry needing to rethink

The All Blacks' best laid end-of-year tour backline plans might be undergoing rapid surgery this week after injuries to tour certainties Doug Howlett and Luke McAlister.

Howlett could be sidelined for about four weeks with a medial ligament strain in his right knee suffered early in Auckland's Air New Zealand Cup quarter-final win over Bay of Plenty.

And yesterday, McAlister lasted only 23 minutes of North Harbour's 56-21 pounding by Otago at Albany before departing with a damaged AC joint in a shoulder.

The anticipated semifinal matchups were tripped up by Otago's fine display and they will travel to Hamilton to face top qualifiers Waikato this Saturday night. Auckland host Wellington at Eden Park on Friday night.

All Blacks coach Graham Henry hopes to find out Howlett's fate today after scans on his knee.

"It's the reality of the game and you have to feel for guys who get injuries," he said last night. "If you ask professional rugby players their biggest fear or hassle it's injury and the rehab after an injury, and the frustration of all that."

McAlister's situation should become clearer after tests today. The range of time out could be anything from three to six weeks.

Those injuries cloud the picture of the All Black squad of 32 to be named on October 22 for the four-test trip to play France twice, England and Wales, starting at Twickenham on November 6 (NZT).

And Henry has also scotched talk of the extra two squad places being for a fourth halfback and hooker.

"We never talked about four hookers and halfbacks. It's always been three [of each]," he said.

Henry believes assumptions were made that those would be the positions getting extra cover for a tour which has the first two tests within six days.

"That's not the case and it won't change," he said.

That opens speculation on which positions might be bulked up. There are a range of options, such as a fifth prop or lock, or an extra utility back.

Henry said four wingers would "most probably" be taken, but if Howlett is ruled out one alternative would be to take three specialist wingers - almost certainly Sitiveni Sivivatu, Rico Gear and Joe Rokocoko - and ensure the squad includes another player who can slot in there if necessary.

Henry's concern is that the time taken to get back to full test readiness is longer than the simple recovery period.

"The medical staff have a pretty clear idea how long it's going to take before a guy can play international rugby with an injury of this type. We'll know after the scan how serious it is," he said of Howlett's situation.

Henry had spoken to All Blacks captain Richie McCaw on Saturday. He had suffered blurred vision during Canterbury's loss to Wellington on Friday night but was fine and Henry described his leaving the field as "being sensible".

Auckland are likely to be without test lock Ali Williams against Wellington, with an injury to the back of his neck. It was checked and scanned on Saturday night and he's likely to be resting for about 7-10 days.

Halfback Steve Devine is touch and go with a shoulder problem but flanker Andrew Blowers and centre Isaia Toeava, who limped off against Bay of Plenty, should be fit.

Waikato had only one loss in the round robin stages of the cup - a last-minute 24-21 defeat to Otago. But Otago coach Steve Martin reckons that has little relevance to their semifinal clash.

"It's a separate situation," he said. "There have been a number of changes in both teams. They've progressed as well as a team, so we have to analyse them as of the last couple of weeks to get our best information."