Highlanders players Joe Wheeler and Dan Pryor were forced off the field on Saturday night against the Lions with concussion and the pair's availability to play against the Waratahs on Friday night in Sydney is still up in the air.
Three games into the season, the Highlanders have had six players already hauled off for concussion checks.
With new protocol around concussion, in which an independent medical officer can take players off if he or she thinks they have been concussed, the Highlanders know they could be caught short in what is a physical and tough game.
Highlanders assistant coach Scott McLeod said injuries were just part and parcel of the season and every squad was in the same boat.
‘‘There is probably a little bit more planning now, in terms of who covers what positions with backs going into forwards for example,'' he said.
McLeod said the side was planning for that through training.
Other injury concerns for this week's game surround winger Patrick Osborne, who picked up a hip injury, and loose forward Luke Whitelock, who is still nursing a knee medial ligament strain.
McLeod is wary of a Waratahs side which is coming off a bye and has reportedly been training hard.
He said the Waratahs had added a new dimension to the game this season under new coach Daryl Gibson, and had been playing smart.
McLeod said the Highlanders would have to play better than they did in beating the Waratahs in the Super rugby semifinal last year.
‘‘We believe they have got smarter in the way they kick and in the way they carry. They are not just using their big forwards any more.''
The Waratahs will not have Wallabies first five-eighth Bernard Foley, who has still not recovered from a shoulder injury picked up in a pre-season match between the two sides in Queenstown last month.
McLeod confirmed Otago winger Jack Wilson has joined the squad as injury cover.
The Highlanders will remain in Australia after the game as their next game is against the Rebels, in Melbourne on March 26.