It is expected to be announced today that Chiefs and All Blacks first five, Aaron Cruden, has suffered a season-ending injury that will rule him out of the Rugby World Cup later this year.
Cruden limped off in the Chiefs' impressive win against the Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday night with what looked like a bad knee injury. It appears that Cruden has torn his ligaments and will be out for 6-8 months, effectively ruling him out of rugby for the rest of 2015.
In years gone by, this would have been treated as a crisis but thankfully the years of blooding depth over the last few years under Steve Hansen should be validated now.
Moreover, in 2014, it was Beauden Barrett rather than Aaron Cruden that seemed to emerge as the All Blacks' first choice first five - and given his form this season and barring injuries, I would have expected Barrett to be the first choice first five this season.
His attacking play has just gotten better and better as has his defence which at the back has always been quite electric but is now just as good down the middle.
And of course, despite Dan Carter's lack of form now, he'll be there along with Crusaders' teammate, Colin Slade.
Thankfully those guys won't be off till after the World Cup so the question of who will be deputy to Barrett won't need to be answered just yet, although the Highlanders' Lima Sopoaga is expected to be in the reckoning now given Cruden's injury - he could very well be in the reckoning if the AB coaches felt they needed to develop a 4th first five option this year.
The final say must go to Cruden though - an unexpected hero at last year's World Cup, Cruden is still very much a valuable player whose defending and attacking qualities are very much highly rated. He is a tough cookie for such a comparatively small rugby player and a good bloke. The Chiefs and ABs will be sorrier this year without him.
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