All Blacks and Highlanders fly half Colin Slade will miss the remainder of the 2012 Super Rugby season as he has been ruled out of all rugby for the year.

rugbyweek

Slade broke his leg playing for the Highladers against the Brumbies in Canberra on the weekend and had to have operation on his injured left leg in Canberra on Sunday.

The All Black missed most of last season’s Super Rugby campaign after breaking his jaw twice and in the world cup he replaced Dan Carter only to suffer a groin strain.

Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph now faces a desperate search for a fly half as Liam Sopoaga has also been ruled out for a lengthy period.

“It’s pretty horrific, really,” Joseph said.

“We don’t do things by halves in the Highlanders. The one thing I know about this group of guys is they are pretty tough. They’ll bounce back.

“It’s a long season. We’ve had a great start but now we’ve got to deal with some tough issues.

“I’m pretty proud of our guys. I think they’ve created something quite special down here.”

Coach Joseph’s injury headache was made worse by an injury to flanker John Hardie who is expected to be out of the game for an extended period after breaking his toe and missing the 33-26 defeat to the Brumbies.

The Highlanders were unbeaten before their loss to the Brumbies.