Coach Ian Foster is hopeful Tyrel Lomax will be fit for the Rugby World Cup in France despite being helped from the field in the All Blacks' record defeat to South Africa at Twickenham.
Throughout the build-up to this year's tournament, nations' warm-up matches have been marred by key players going down injured.
Hosts France have been hit by the loss of playmaker Romain Ntamack, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament against Scotland, while England have lost winger Anthony Watson to a calf injury suffered against Ireland.
The All Blacks have already been hit before the World Cup kicks off, with the pair of Brodie Retallick (knee) and Shannon Frizell (hamstring) missing the early stages of the tournament.
On Saturday morning (NZ time), All Blacks coaches and fans alike were left sweating over Lomax, who went down with what appeared to be a knee injury.
But despite worries of an ACL injury of his own - bringing with it a recovery time of about nine months - Foster moved to assure that Lomax's fate is far from sealed.
Instead, Lomax's injury came down to a cut from a wayward boot, with a deep gash on his upper leg.
That kind of injury has already been seen this year, with fullback Beauden Barrett sidelined in Super Rugby for similar reasons.
And while Lomax will need to be medically assessed after the defeat, Foster said he doubts that the 27-year-old will be unavailable come France.
"Tyrel's pretty bad, actually," said Foster post-match. "He's got quite a big cut, it's right through into the muscle of the thigh.
"We've got a concern over the sharp plastic blades happening at the moment. We'll have to check what boot that came off.
"It certainly wasn't deliberate. Beaudy [Barrett] got cut with the same sort of thing. We'll have to check that out.
"But he's not in a great way."
The All Blacks will now lick their wounds before the World Cup begins, taking on France in the tournament opener on September 9.
