‘Into the muscle’: All Blacks prop receives 30 stitches for gruesome cut

All Blacks prop Tyrel Lomax is “unlikely” to suit up against France in next month’s Rugby World Cup opener after receiving 30 stitches for a gruesome leg injury.

Lomax has come a long way in his 12 months as a regular first-choice All Black, and the Australian-born enforcer was expected to play a pivotal role in New Zealand’s World Cup campaign.

But, at least for a moment, it seemed like Lomax’s World Cup was going to come to a painful end before it'd even begun.

All Blacks fans watched on in silence as Lomax was treated on the hallowed turf of Twickenham on Friday night. The rampaging prop pulled up second-best after a tackle against the Springboks.

Lomax was cleared of any ligament damage, but wasn’t exactly out of the woods with a deep cut posing cause for concern. The front rower was carted off the field after just 13 minutes.

The All Blacks went on to lose that now infamous Test 35-7. New Zealand rugby fans had a reason to be worried, sure, and were desperate to hear answers to some pressing questions.

Coach Ian Foster confirmed that Lomax was “pretty bad” and “not in a great way” after being cut by a stud. But the extent of this injury remained unclear, although it didn’t look great.

On the morning after the Test, Foster shared another update on how the injured All Blacks starter was tracking.

“Tyrel is very sore. He’s our worst,” Foster told reporters.

“He’s got 30 stiches, got stitched by a surgeon last night and at different depths so it’s actually gone into the muscle.

“His leg will be in a brace for four or five days as we give that a chance to heal. Long term he looks good, but he’s put himself into the unlikely category, I thought, in a fortnight.”

The other injury concern to come out of the 28-point defeat prop Ethan de Groot, who is regularly Lomax’s front-row partner-in-crime.

De Groot received some treatment during the match, but much to the relief of All Blacks fans, players and coaches, the world-class loosehead bounced back up and carried on playing.

“Others are actually not too bad,” Foster added.

“Ethan’s knee, he felt his knee in that first half but played on and that sub was effectively at the time we expected to make it.

“There’s obviously some sore people but they’re the main ones.”

Following the media opportunity at the All Blacks’ hotel on Saturday morning, Lomax was seen walking around with a brace around his leg.

But it’s all part of the plan to get Lomax back on the field as soon as possible.

Coach Foster also insisted that Lomax was not in any danger of missing out on the Rugby World Cup, and neither was Scott Barrett who received two yellow cards against the Boks.

“I see no reason why we would be changing Tyrel.

“There’s no reason why we’d be changing the squad based on information we have right now.”