Chiefs star Sam Cane in doubt for Super Rugby Pacific quarter-final

Cane has been sidelined with a knee injury since he strained his MCL while playing for the Chiefs against the Force in Hamilton a fortnight ago.

As such, he was absent from last week’s tight win over the Fijian Drua in Lautoka, although there was hope that the 30-year-old would be available for selection in his side’s first playoff match this weekend.

It appears as though such a prospect won’t come to fruition, though, as Chiefs assistant coach David Hill hinted on Tuesday that Cane will only partake in the Waratahs match if it is a necessity.

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 16

Aotearoa Rugby Pod | Episode 16

“He did a bit of stuff at the start of training, so he’ll have to go through Thursday and see how he pulls up, so there’ll be an update on that one once the team’s named,” Hill said, as per Stuff.

“If it’s a must-win and push came to shove, then he’s the type of guy who would [play], but obviously we’re dealing with someone’s limbs, so we’re pretty cautious around things and make good decisions.

“We’ve done it with all our guys returning to play, we’ve never forced them or rushed them back in, so we’ll have those discussions today and tomorrow.

“It’s probably everything put in the mix there and [we’ll] make a good decision in the best interests of the team and the player.”

Cane isn’t the only high-profile player in line to miss the quarter-final, as two-test All Blacks lock Josh Lord won’t feature as he continues to recover from a knee injury of his own.

In their absences, the likes of Brodie Retallick, Tupou Vaa’i, Naitoa Ah Kuoi, Luke Jacobson and Kaylum Boshier are likely to be called upon to play for the Chiefs.

A concussion sustained by playmaker Kaleb Trask could also pave the way for one-test All Blacks first-five Josh Ioane to start at fullback, a position he played towards the end of his four-season stay at the Highlanders in recent years.

Ioane’s move to the Chiefs was partially spurred by a motivation to play for often in the No 10 jersey, but he was forced to play at fullback for 75 minutes against the Drua after Trask left the field early with a head knock.

Hill was pleased with the way Ioane acquitted himself at the back at Churchill Park, and didn’t play down the notion that the 26-year-old might return there this week.

“He got thrown into that one at the weekend, it wasn’t planned by any stretch, but he did a great job considering he hadn’t actually trained there or we hadn’t planned for him to go there.”