The Blues and All Blacks have taken a hit with the loss of powerful lock and Blues captain Patrick Tuipulotu ruled out with injury.
The timing is harsh for the Blues with the semifinal against the Brumbies this Friday while the timing isn't great for the All Blacks either.
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Tuipulotu left the filed 20 minutes into the Blues' quarter-final against the Fijian Drua won 36-5 on Saturday night with Dalton Papali'i taking over captaincy.
The Blues confirmed Tuipulotu had torn the medial ligament in his right knee and is likely to be out of rugby for six to seven weeks.
It means the 31-year-old won't be considered in All Blacks coach Scott Robertson's plans for the tests against England next month.
Tuipulotu looked almost certain to be a frontline lock for the All Blacks alongside Scott Barrett and possibly Tupu Vaa'i, particularly with Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick no longer in the picture.
The Blues will be hoping to have Sam Darry and Laghlan McWhannell as their probably locking combination for the semifinals.
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