Otago has injury problems less than a week out from its Ranfurly Shield challenge against Canterbury.
First five-eighth Chris Noakes did not even get on to the field yesterday against Auckland after a nasty collision at training on Friday resulted in him wrenching his groin.
He is due to have the injury seen by a specialist today but he looks unlikely to take the field in Christchurch next Saturday afternoon.
Lock Hayden Triggs is also in doubt after aggravating a rib injury he has been carrying the past few weeks.
He was forced to leave the field with about 10 minutes left, unable to continue after putting in a solid effort.
Fellow locking partner Tom Donnelly, who was due to join the All Blacks training squad today and is unavailable for the shield challenge, was also forced off the field with a knee injury.
Otago ended the game with Hoani Matenga and Paul Grant, seen more as loose forwards, locking the scrum.
With Adam Thomson also due to join up with the All Blacks, his natural replacement, Matenga, may have to be first looked upon as a locking replacement.
Reserve halfback James Kenny pulled out of the squad on Saturday with a strained hamstring and Otago B halfback Fraser Lau was on the Otago bench yesterday.
Kenny's hamstring injury is not considered serious.
Otago coach Steve Martin said injuries were part of the game and he had faith in those players who had stepped in yesterday and might have to do so again on Saturday in Christchurch.
Glenn Dickson played well in his first start for Otago, while Michael Witt showed some nice touches when he came on, Martin said.
Martin said the side would this week be working on bringing more intensity to the breakdown, getting in with the right body position.
Martin was critical of referee Kane McBride for not giving out a yellow card against Auckland players at the breakdown.
"We struggled at the breakdown to get the ball out quickly. But there were several occasions when what looked like a professional foul occurred but no sanction came," Martin said.
"It makes it hard to get any continuity into your game.
"They had a player twice in the first half who just threw the ball away and they were allowed to come round our side of the ruck and flop down."
Martin said referees were a week by week proposition.
"The frustrating thing is we seek advice from the referee before the game but you can't clarify anything during the game. But you just have to live with what they do on the day."
Although he stopped short of saying McBride's judgement at the breakdown cost his team the game, Martin said his rulings were significant.
Martin said his side made costly errors at vital times, and that really hurt, pushing the pass when going backwards too often.
The attack went well in patches, but needed to keep hold of the ball for longer.
With two away games now, Martin acknowledged the side needed to start winning, in what he described as a cut-throat competition.
Auckland coach Mark Anscombe admitted the match was close, and his side had played pretty poorly in the first half.
But it had shown more composure in the second half and competed well in the breakdown.
