All Blacks prop Ben Franks has suffered a recurrence of the back injury that forced him out of last year's Grand Slam tour of the UK and Ireland.
Franks joined the growing list of Graham Henry's World Cup contenders on the sidelines last night when he was replaced by his brother Owen during the opening quarter of the Crusaders 42-30 Super rugby victory over the Western Force in Perth.
He will undergo further medical assessment before the squad heads to South Africa tomorrow (3pmNZT) but Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder sounded pessimistic about the front rower's prospects of making the trip when quizzed after the match.
"We're holding our breath on him but it's not looking good," Blackadder said.
"He felt a bit of a popping sensation there and he's had an injury there before in his lower back."
Last November Franks had to return home before the second leg of the Grand Slam against Scotland after injuring his back during a gym session.
He recovered during the off-season and has formed a strong propping unit with his sibling and loosehead Wyatt Crockett.
The trio have been rotated during the Crusaders 10 matches so far but Crockett and Owen Franks can now expect to log plenty of game time against the Stormers in Cape Town next Sunday (NZT) and Cheetahs at Bloemfontein the following weekend.
Super rugby rookie Andrew Olorenshaw is travelling with the squad while Crusaders management also placed promising Canterbury prop Nick Barrett on stand-by to join the tour party.
Crockett, one of the New Zealand conference's form looseheads, sympathised with Franks' predicament and realised he faced a tough assignment against the Stormers at Newlands.
"They're pretty solid up front. They've had the wood on us the last few times so it'll be a big challenge," he said.
The Crusaders scrum set a solid platform -- and finished strongly -- against the Force while Crockett was also prominent on defence when making hits usually associated with Sonny Bill Williams.
Crockett was penalised for one jarring blow on Force fullback Cameron and before referee Vinnie Munro could blow the whistle he clattered Brett Sheehan with a legitimate hit that left the halfback with a cut head.
"I thought I used my arms (against Shepherd) but he bounced off," Crockett said.
"It's one of those things. It felt to get some good shoulders on."
Crockett's thunderous tackles typified the Crusaders defensive work as they closed out a five tries to two victory.
"The boys defended well the whole game. Not letting them across late (for a bonus point) shows the attitude of the team," he said.
"Richie's rest (a yellow card in the 46th minute) made it tough but we hung in there and when he came back on he went from strength to strength and finished the game off really strongly."
Meanwhile, in more encouraging personnel news for the Blackadder, No.8 Kieran Read's two weeks of rest and recuperation has expired so he will play the Stormers.
Daniel Carter is also expected to return at first five-eighth after being unavailable with a hamstring strain.
"The cavalry's arriving shortly," Blackadder smiled.
