“He’s going to be assessed in the next few days around the stitch and go through the HIA protocols.”

Cane’s race to prove his fitness for France will be aided by the All Blacks’ longer eight-day wait time, after facing Ireland on Friday local time.

However, Sam Darry has been ruled out of the remainder of the end-of-year tour due to a knee injury, and will be replaced by a member of the All Blacks XV on Monday (NZT).

If Cane was ruled out, the All Blacks would face a reshuffle of their loose forwards.

Robertson’s side saw off the trio of Dalton Papali’i (hamstring), Luke Jacobson (thumb) and Ethan Blackadder (calf). all remain in New Zealand.

Surgery saw Jacobson’s season end prematurely, however, Robertson has previously declared Papali’i and Blackadder can prove his physical fitness and join the team in Europe.

If neither Cane nor Papali’i are fit to face France, the All Blacks will be left without a specialist No.7. Ardie Savea will likely come in on the open side of the scrum, and Wallace Sititi will go to No.8 in his place.

However, in better news for the All Blacks, Beauden Barrett and Codie Taylor are likely to return to the side, after both failed HIAs in last weekend’s win over England.

Both players left Twickenham and did not return afterwards fail their respective concussion testsand were forced to be absent in Dublin for a 12-day standstill period.

Facing France in Paris will be the culmination of three tests in three weeks against some of Europe’s elite teams, leaving Robertson to manage his team appropriately.

The All Blacks will ease off slightly, the coach confirmed, in order to keep the players fresh to take the pitch at the Stade de France.

“We lost a day or two of practice just to keep the same group together and keep them aligned.

“It will be interesting to name this week’s team.”

The All Blacks face France in Paris on Sunday morning, and conclude their season against Italy in Turin on November 24.

Alex Powell is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016 and previously worked for Newshub and 1News.