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Greg Somerville's troubled return to rugby hit another snag last night as the All Black prop underwent surgery to repair a damaged retina in his right eye.
The 29-year-old's latest setback has compounded the dilemma facing the national selectors, who must finalise their World Cup squad by August 14.
Somerville had been named as the final player in that travelling party as long as he continued to recover from the Achilles tendon injury which removed him from the entire Super 14 series.
Then he was hurt in Canterbury's opening national provincial match on Saturday when he was accidentally poked in the eye by a Bay of Plenty player.
He had surgery under local anaesthetic last night in Christchurch and while there was no immediate prognosis, Somerville was expected to be out of rugby for at least several weeks, a forecast which will complicate the World Cup selection.
The selectors are desperate to include Somerville because he is adept at propping either side of the scrum. With experience of 55 tests, he is a superb reserve to Carl Hayman and Tony Woodcock.
Somerville has had a wretched past year since he tore his Achilles during the All Blacks Tri-Nations victory against the Springboks in Pretoria. He suffered complications and needed further surgery, which removed him from rugby until last month.
Forwards coach Steve Hansen tried to be bullish yesterday about Somerville joining the World Cup party but admitted the selectors had to be extra cautious about his full recovery. Wellington prop John Schwalger remained on standby.
"Greg has still got a good chance of going to the World Cup as long as the procedure goes well and he recovers quickly. But obviously that is something we can't tell at this stage. It is going to take a bit of time, and luckily we have got plenty of that."
The selectors had been particularly pleased with Somerville's progress since his return to rugby and Hansen thought his general fitness was better than at any time in his career.
The prop had answered the only concern about his ability to generate full power through his leg. Initially he had struggled to stretch his Achilles enough to get his heel on the ground, but that problem had been fixed.
"We were very happy with his Achilles, and it is just a shame this has popped up," said Hansen.
Hansen saw Somerville clasp his damaged eye during Saturday's game but brushed it off as minor when the prop carried on playing after some treatment.
"I thought he got away with that, but obviously we got a bit of a sniff of it on Sunday and the first thing we thought was he had not had much luck," said Hansen.
The All Blacks and their medical staff would have a much better idea today about Somerville's chances of recovering for the World Cup.
World Cup regulations state 30 players must be picked by August 14 - squads could not leave a vacancy - and if one of that group was then injured and replaced, he could not return for the later stages of the tournament.
"We have just got to be a little bit careful that if Greg is not right by the 14th he may well be right by the end of the tournament.
"We are just really trying to make sure that everyone is 100 per cent confident that we can use him in the tournament if we name him."
