The Blues have been dealt a major blow with Rene Ranger out for the remainder of the Super Rugby season.

The former All Black ruptured his ACL knee ligaments during an awkward tackle in the 33rd minute of the Blues scratchy 23-18 win over the Sharks at Eden Park on Saturday night.

The unfortunate injury is a cruel blow for Ranger, who after six games this season was just finding his feet in his return from France and comeback from neck surgery.

The best case scenario is Ranger makes a return in the provincial season for North Harbour. But this certainly puts a halt on his quest to win back the black jersey.

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Ranger leaves a big hole to fill at centre for the Blues. The timing also couldn't be worse with Tana Umaga about to lose Rieko Ioane, who played centre for Auckland, to the New Zealand sevens team.

Promising flanker Blake Gibson was another casualty this week, suffering a fractured hand in a tackling drill that will keep him out of action until after the June break.

Japanese midfielder Male Sa'u, who hasn't featured since the round four draw with the Reds in Brisbane, or George Moala will be favourite to step into the centre role when the Blues return from the bye against the Rebels. Shifting Piers Francis out one spot or giving Michael Little a crack are other options.

Either way Umaga knows there's no like-for-like replacement.

"We've got enough players to cover him but it's obviously not ideal to lose Rene."

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