Andrew Mehrtens may not be fit for the semi-final against France at Twickenham on Sunday, leaving the All Blacks some way short of their formidable best.
A scan on the knock the out-half took to the left knee against Scotland cleared him of any cartilage or ligament damage yesterday, but it confirmed bruising and fluid around the injury. New Zealand coach John Hart said they would wait to see how Mehrtens responded to treatment. "We can't be sure yet, but we're still hopeful," said Hart, who will name his starting XV tomorrow.
"There is a sense of relief in the camp, but he is a long way yet from playing on Sunday," said Hart.
"We won't take any risks. He'll only play if he's right."
Mehrtens' importance to the All Blacks is even more crucial than that of Jonah Lomu on the wing. His vision and skill, either kicking for position or delivering skip passes to the awesome outside backs, have been impressively precise all year.
Judging by his performances at this World Cup, especially against England and Scotland, Mehrtens looks by some distance the most complete out-half in world rugby. And, after guiding the Canterbury Crusaders to back-to-back Super 12 titles in 1998 and 1999, he has a case for being ranked as New Zealand's best-ever in the position, ahead even of the remarkable Grant Fox.
If Mehrtens cannot play, his place will be taken by Tony Brown, a competent player without Mehrtens' tactical authority. When he came on for Mehrtens at half-time against Scotland, the All Blacks soon lost much of their direction.
If Mehrtens recovers, the All Blacks should be able to start with the same line-up which won against England and Scotland. But there might be a temptation to bring back the veteran Ian Jones at lock ahead of Norman Maxwell in view of the line-out problems against Scotland.
Meanwhile, Australia have recalled Toutai Kefu at number eight after his two-match suspension for their semi-final against South Africa at Twickenham on Saturday. The Tonga-born forward replaces the former Springbok captain Tiaan Strauss.
Kefu, who was suspended for punching Ireland's Trevor Brennan, slots back into a side eager to avenge their 10-9 defeat by the Springboks in Cape Town in August.
"That was easily our worst performance of the year," said their coach Rod Macqueen. "The players hate me bringing it up but I like to remind them about it all the time."
Macqueen also said the Wallabies are fully aware of the danger posed by Springbok out-half Jannie de Beer, who kicked 34 points against England in the quarter-finals.
De Beer now has his sights trained on the Wallabies after booting a world record five drop goals in Paris.
"De Beer certainly justified his selection," said Macqueen. "He added another dimension for them, and sealed the game with his second half performance.
"The Springbok forwards got on top, and De Beer happened to be very accurate on the day. His kicking game was excellent, which kept England out of contention.
"It is hard to defend against drop goals if you are going backwards, and we've got to make sure that he doesn't have the opportunities on Saturday."
"The small things are going to make all the difference on Saturday," Macqueen added. "We play South Africa quite a lot, and right now, they probably have got the ascendancy on us," Macqueen said.
Skipper John Eales added: "We've improved steadily throughout the tournament, but we will have to play better than we did against Wales last weekend, or we will be out.
"This will be our biggest challenge so far, but I am reasonably happy with how things are going.
"South Africa don't have any weaknesses in their pack, and the scrum-half is a fair player, too, and there are a lot of options in the back line."
AUSTRALIA: Burke; Tune, Herbert, Horan, Roff; Larkham, Gregan; Harry, Foley, Blades, Giffin, Eales (capt), Cockbain, Wilson, Kefu.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)