Fears over injury for All Black captain Sam Cane allayed after leaving field early

All Black captain Sam Cane was forced from the field early against the Western Force at FMG Stadium in Hamilton which sparked fears that he may have suffered a serious leg injury.

Cane was competing at a ruck in the 17th minute when a two man clean out looked to awkwardly bend his leg. After receiving some on-field treatment, Cane limped off the field on his own accord. It looked briefly as if he would play on but advice from the medical team took him off as a precaution.

Head coach Clayton McMillan was hopeful it was a 'minor' leg injury as his openside was walking freely around the dressing room post-match but the Chiefs coach was willing to wait before making a call on his availability.

"He seems to think it is okay but every player thinks their injury isn't too bad until they wake up the next day," McMillan said.

"He is walking around fine, so hopefully just minor.

"I think he would've carried on, because he’s just that type of guy.

"The advice of the medical team was that it just wasn’t worth risking, so we didn’t."

The Chiefs will be hoping to have Cane back sooner than later with just one more round remaining before the playoffs.

The team travels to Fiji to take on the Drua in the final round which will have playoff implications with the Chiefs currently sitting in fourth spot on the ladder in possession of a home playoff game.

Should they lose, they could be forced to head out on the road which is a situation McMillan wants to avoid. He was confident that he would have anyone that isn't out for the season back next week for the 'must win' fixture.

"That's the nature of the beast in a contact sport," McMillan said of the Chiefs latest run of injuries.

"We still managed to put out a fairly consistent side this week.

"Touch wood, Sam's was the only injury that came out of today. We are really confident that everyone that isn't a season-ending injury, that wasn't available this week, will be back next week."