Grim news for Toeava

BLUES FULLBACK Isaia Toeava’s hip injury is worse than first thought and could keep him off the field for the rest of the year.

The Rugby World Cup-winning All Black has not played since the loss to the Chiefs in round two.

Blues doctor Stephen Kara says Toeava still hasn’t recovered from a stress fracture that has blighted his career for the past two years.

“It is my suspicion that it has not healed since May of last year. He played through the Rugby World Cup with some pain and some pain killers.”

Kara didn't know when Toeava would play again, but suggested it wouldn't be until 2013 if he underwent another operation.

“I can't give you an exact date, but what I do know is that Ice (Toeava) has had a complex problem in his right hip for some time and between ourselves and the All Blacks medical staff we've been trying to nut this out for some time,” he says.

“We're going to sit down with a specialist at the end of the week and one of those options is surgery and he could be looking at some time out of the game. If the surgical path is taken it could be six months.”

Even if Toeava did have an operation, it wasn't certain that it would be successful.

“The fact that it hasn't healed to date makes him at risk further on and even if he had surgery as the form of treatment we're still not guaranteed that it will heal itself at all,” says Kara.

The Blues already have a number of players out injured – including All Blacks Jerome Kaino Keven Mealamu and Anthony Boric – and have called in reinforcements from their wider training squad.