KEY POINTS:
It's not been a good month to be an All Black lock.
First, Crusader Chris Jack tore a hamstring tendon against the Waratahs and is sidelined for up to five weeks.
Then, on Saturday, Highlander James Ryan, who was battling his way back after a lengthy layoff for
shoulder surgery last year, damaged his left knee against the Chiefs.
He will have the knee scanned in Christchurch tomorrow. The early diagnosis is a ruptured medial ligament; the fear is more serious anterior cruciate ligament damage.
Ryan is gone for the Super 14 and his World Cup aspirations may become clearer this week.
But All Black coach Graham Henry is no Mother Hubbard. His cupboard may be reduced, but it's far from bare.
Blues trio Ali Williams, Troy Flavell and Greg Rawlinson are going gangbusters in the Super 14 leader's campaign
And at the Chiefs, Keith Robinson, after an injury-hit start to his year, is beginning to get the time on the park he needs to get fully up to speed.
Robinson, who completed an emotional return to the All Blacks late last year after 2 1/2 years battling a mix of ailments, missed the first three rounds with a small calf tear. He played the next two games before a minor recurrence of the injury took him out for two more matches.
But he's played the full 80 minutes against the Blues and the Highlanders in the last two weeks and hopes the off-on nature of his season is behind him.
"It has been frustrating. I just wanted to sink my teeth into some good rugby, to get a head start, but it didn't work out that way," he said yesterday.
"But I've managed to get through the last two games injury free and hopefully that keeps up and I'm able to help the boys into the semifinals."
The 30-year-old Robinson insists his philosophy doesn't allow half measures.
"I'm going as hard as I can. I don't think about injuries when I'm out there at all," he said.
"The thing I do think about after the game is that I'm not playing rugby the way I'd like to. It's good to be getting 80 minutes under the belt, but there's still quite a bit of work to do.
The body's going good; I've just got to get some real match fitness."
As for the World Cup, Robinson, whose eight test appearances stretch over five years, won't allow thoughts of France to enter his mind just yet.
As for his rivals' injury worries, he reckons they'll be back in the frame for the September-October jamboree.
"You try not to think about it. Deep down - as everyone who knows me knows - it's no secret I'd love to go to the World Cup and play in a winning World Cup team, but it's not what drives me at the moment.
"I'm trying to help the Chiefs get to the semis, and if I do that and play good rugby along the way, the All Black thing will happen."