Fans share in Mehrtens' pain

As rugby injuries go, they don't come more worrying than this.

Andrew Mehrtens took a bang on the knee yesterday and the rugby public felt the impact on the All Blacks' quest for World Cup glory.

Team officials remained optimistic that their most important player and champion points scorer had suffered no more than bruising in the quarter-final 30-18 win against Scotland and would recover for the semifinal clash with France.

But Mehrtens was sent to London for a scan on his left knee, the results still unavailable at edition time early today, and coach John Hart conceding that it would be a tragedy if the injury proved serious.

Within minutes of his early, limping departure from the quarter-final the impact of his loss was evident for all to see.

It coincided with the All Blacks' inability to get their game going in the trying second-spell conditions against a revitalised Scottish side.

Throughout this World Cup, Mehrtens has reinforced his splendid season-long form with his ability to dictate the pace and territory of matches with precision punting, accurate goalkicking and running prowess. All those qualities were with him yesterday as the All Blacks hit the ground running in the first quarter at Murrayfield.

But Mehrtens' knee trouble left Tony Brown to step in and there was a marked difference in class between the two five-eighths.

The injury is not to Mehrtens' right knee, which required surgery several times in 1995 and 1996 after problems on tour in Italy and South Africa.

If it is no more than bruising, the fans will breathe easily again as Mehrtens would probably be able to play in the semifinal against France next Monday morning (NZ time).

The value of a quality five-eighths was clear in the quarter-finals, with points machine Jannie de Beer kicking the Springboks home against England, Stephen Larkham controlling the Wallabies' fortunes over Wales and Christophe Lamaison the French organiser against Argentina.

De Beer, a born-again Christian who kicked a world-record five dropped goals against England, hailed a supernatural force rather than his own brilliance.

"There are a lot of things that have happened in my life that I don't have answers for. Today was one of them."