Highlanders will have to do without Waisake Naholo and Fumiaki Tanaka for at least the next month, or longer, due to injury.
Naholo sustained a new fracture to the same leg that he injured before the World Cup last year. The injury occurred late in the game against the Blues and the fracture was confirmed by X-ray on Monday.
Team doctor Greg Macleod said “while this is very unfortunate for Waisake, the positive news is that this injury is not as bad as his last fracture. He is already managing well and it’s expected his rehab will take 6 – 8 weeks”
The team will also be without their star Japanese halfback Fumiaka Tanaka after he injured his calf during the a training session ahead of last weeks game in Auckland against The Blues. Macleod added that Tanaka had torn his calf and that his expected recovery would take around four weeks.
Head coach Jamie Joseph was philosophical about the injuries “to lose players for an extended period is always disappointing but you have to expect injuries to occur at some point, as a group we simply deal with it and move on, the focus for the players now will be to rehab well and work to make themselves available again”.
Naholo will not be returning to Fiji for treatment as he did last year, his rehab will be under the guidance of Highlanders team doctor Greg Macleod.