Rugby: All Blacks midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown faces extended injury break

All Blacks midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown could be set for an extended spell on the sideline after suffering another shoulder injury in the Chiefs' dispiriting loss to the Blues.

Lienert-Brown left Waikato Stadium clutching his shoulder in the seventh minute of the Chiefs' 25-0 defeat to the Blues – the home side's first shutout in their 26-year history.

The 56-test veteran partially dislocated his right shoulder in last year's loss to Ireland in Dublin, forcing him to miss the final test of the year. On Saturday night, while attempting a jackal turnover, Lienert-Brown copped a heavy blow that may result in another dislocation to the same shoulder.

For Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan it is a case of hoping for the best while fearing the worst.

"Not great," McMillan said of Lienert-Brown. "He's putting on a brave face but initial reports are that it's not looking good. His arm is in a sling."

After watching Lienert-Brown endure an injury-disrupted 2021 test campaign, All Blacks captain Sam Cane felt for his team-mate.

"He's a massive part of our team and must be closing in on 100 games," Cane said. "I'm not going to feel too sorry for him yet. I'll cross my fingers and hope it's not as bad as initially thought but my gut feel is he may be in a bit of strife."

The Chiefs have midfield cover in the form of fellow All Blacks second five-eighth Quinn Tupaea and Alex Nankivell but Lienert-Brown's absence is another blow after successive home defeats to the Crusaders and Blues.

It's also far from ideal as All Blacks coach Ian Foster attempts to plot his midfield combinations for the three-test series against Ireland in July.

Four weeks ago the Chiefs stunned the Crusaders in Christchurch. Since then, their regression is a source of concern for McMillan.

"I don't know if it's us coming back to the pack or other people getting better," McMillan said. "There's still a hell of a long way to go in this competition. Everyone has had some disruption that's affected flow and selection. That's not an excuse, and we've got to be better.

"There's still elements out there where we showed our potential but we need to start converting the opportunities to be serious contenders in the competition.

"It hurts but we have to put our emotion to the side and accept we got beaten by a better team and go away and find the answers."

Emotions could not have been more contrasting for buoyant Blues coach Leon MacDonald.

Despite conceding three yellow cards to Luke Romano, Sam Nock and Marcel Renata the Blues delivered their best performance of the season to hold the Chiefs scoreless and secure a bonus-point victory.

Reflecting on his side's defensive resilience while reduced to 13 men late in the first half, MacDonald ranked the performance the best of his four-year tenure.

"I was really proud of winning the [transtasman] final last year and we had a massive win over in Cape Town against a really strong Stormers team and this would probably top them both in terms of the quality of the opposition at home and coming off three games last week.

"To put that sort of energy on the park it makes me hugely proud," MacDonald said. "It shows us where we can get to and now our challenge is to try and do that every week."

Trumping the Chiefs for the second time this year to record six wins in succession allowed Blues captain Dalton Papalii to celebrate his 50th match in style.

"We've built a culture, this year especially, that we're working hard for each other," Papalii said. "Most teams I've been in we would go into panic stations with those cards but out there we didn't feel stressed. We were making tackles and getting straight back into the line.

"Just before the game my old man messaged me saying this is where I got my debut so my first and 50th games are at this stadium."

MacDonald praised his team's leadership – Beauden Barrett's controlling influence in particular to manage the three occasions the Blues were down men through his astute kicking game. Barrett also laid on Tom Robinson's second try with a brilliant cross-field kick.

From their hunger and intent at the breakdown to their backs-to-the-wall defence, the Blues have set the standard they must continue to reach.

That starts again next week, with a highly-anticipated match against the Crusaders.

"It's a great opportunity to see where we're really at," MacDonald said. "Crusaders in Christchurch is about as good as it gets in world rugby. It's going to be a huge challenge. They'll be eagerly awaiting us. The boys are already talking about going down there and getting into it."