The already injury-plagued All Blacks suffered a further setback in this weekend's 22-27 Test loss to France with at least one more player added to the growing list of sidelined wounded.

Flank Adam Thomson will be out for six weeks after he broke a bone in his hand, All Blacks doctor Deb Robinson said Sunday.

There was also a question mark over hooker Andrew Hore who left the field early in Saturday's Test with rib cartilage damage.

A full assessment of the severity of his injury will be known within the next two days, Robinson said.

The under-strength All Blacks went into Saturday's Test missing 10 leading players including Richie McCaw, Rodney So'oialo, Ali Williams and Dan Carter.

The rawness of their understudies showed as the All Blacks were out-muscled and out-thought by the French, who scored three tries to two.

The Test also exposed the lack of depth in New Zealand rugby, created in part by the growing number of fringe internationals chasing lucrative contracts in the northern hemisphere.

Following the latest bout of injuries, opportunities have opened for two more uncapped players.

Crusaders flank George Whitelock has been called in as Thomson's replacement and Chiefs hooker Aled de Malmanche joins the squad as cover for Hore.

France escaped the first Test with only halfback Julien Dupuy suffering a slight injury requiring one stitch to a scalp wound.

The second Test is in Wellington next Saturday.

365

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