Pari Pari Parkinson has returned home to Dunedin after picking up a knee complaint during the 37-29 loss to the Blues in Melbourne on Friday night.
Highlanders assistant coach Dave Dillon said it was nothing serious and the big man should be sidelined for only a "week or two".
The 204cm, 130kg second-rower missed the entire season in 2022 due to a serious knee injury he picked up in the NPC in late 2021.
Loose forward Tom Sanders will join the Highlanders as locking cover for the team’s game against the Waratahs in Sydney on Friday night.
He gets the nod over specialist lock Hugo Plummer, who has been training with the Highlanders as injury cover.
Fellow locks Mitchell Dunshea and Will Tucker are expected to return from their respective injuries next month, so the cupboard is almost bare.
Fabian Holland will share the load with Oliver Haig and Max Hicks, who performed well during the preseason.
The Waratahs shape as formidable opponents.
The beat the defending champions, the Crusaders, 37-24 in Melbourne on Sunday.
The Highlanders have shown a lot more on attack so far this season, but it was their defence which was really tested against the Blues.
They made more than 200 tackles in a taxing effort.
For the most part, they stuck to their task. But a short stint either side of halftime proved costly. The Blues piled on 21 unanswered points to set up the win.
"The game is 80 minutes but ... there were some positive signs in that first 30 minutes", Dillon said.
"There was a massive turning point there just before halftime."
Prop Ethan de Groot was barrelling towards the line but had the ball knocked free and the Blues swept the length of the field before eventually scoring.
Highlanders fullback Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens picked up a yellow card in the process.
"That’s the game, isn’t it", Dillon when assessing the impact of that moment.
The amount of work the Highlanders were forced to do on defence took a lot of gas out of the tank.
"We’ve just got to be a little bit smarter with our decision-making."
The Waratahs did to the Crusaders what the Blues did to the Highlanders.
"They played in the right areas of the field and they put the Crusaders under pressure and were able to come away with points.
"They played some pretty good rugby, all right."
