Who can the All Blacks turn to replace Brodie Retallick?

The All Blacks' draw with the Springboks in round two of the Rugby Championship came at a costly price with the All Blacks losing their premier second-rower, Brodie Retallick to injury.

Retallick came off in the second half of New Zealand's 16-16 draw against South Africa in the Rugby Championship and was clutching his shoulder with what has been confirmed as a dislocated shoulder.

All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen eased concerns saying that he believes that there is a "good possibility" that Retallick will be fit for the Rugby World Cup.

"He's only dislocated it, which means that there's a good possibility he could make the World Cup," a relieved Hansen told a news conference.

"No timeline yet to when he's going to return to play, but hopefully he'll be available to go to the World Cup."

In the meantime, Steve Hansen will need to prepare for the worst (that his star man won't make the World Cup), and while he does have options there a significant drop in quality from Retallick.

The former World Rugby Player of the Year is still among one of the best second rowers in the game. We take a look at the All Blacks' options.

Scott Barrett 

Barrett will be the obvious choice to replace Brodie Retallick and is set to return for the All Blacks in their first Bledisloe Cup test of 2019 in a fortnight.

Scott Barrett is of similar quality to Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick but has been tipped to feature on the blindside for the All Blacks with no obvious solution for the #6 jersey at the moment.

Barrett has been brilliant off the bench for the All Blacks in recent times and will slot in with little fuss. With Barrett going into the starting lineout, it does take away some impact off the bench.

Jackson Hemopo

Hemopo has featured in all of the All Blacks squads since making his debut against France last year. He is regularly listed as a 'utility forward' to cover blindside and lock.

Although he has stepped up in a few games for the All Blacks, there is somewhat of a drop in what Hemopo brings to the side compared to that of Barrett, Retallick and Whitelock.

Hemopo hasn't really forced the coaching staffs' hands to give him more minutes in the Black jersey but with Retallick sidelined he may just get his chance.

Patrick Tuipulotu

After another strong season with the Blues in 2019, Tuipulotu has possibly the most to gain from Retallick's injury as he hasn't really stepped up and grasped his opportunities in the Black jersey.

The All Blacks took three specialised second rowers to the World Cup in England but if Retallick is unable to fit for the start of the World Cup, Hansen may be forced to take four to Japan.

If he is able to produce some of his form he has shown in Super Rugby, he could even be a starter for the side but he will need to step up when it matters.

Luke Romano 

One of the few options in New Zealand that isn't currently involved with the squad but is capped. Romano has been used purely as an impact player from the bench for the Crusaders after the past few seasons but he return to the All Blacks set up and would slot in with little fuss and provide the national side with similar cover.

The Crusaders' man has all the qualities for a test quality lock and is probably unlucky that he hasn't added to his 31 test caps since 2017.

The versatile replacements

The All Blacks do have two versatile options, outside of Hemopo, with Vaea Fifita and Shannon Frizell both able to cover lock and blindside flanker.

Neither player is a specialist second-rower but both will be able to cover the position for the All Blacks.

Fifita replaced Retallick in the clash against the Springboks and has spent a lot of time in the middle of the pack for the Hurricanes while Frizell has been used mostly as blindside flanker in his career.

Longshots

Hansen and his coaching staff could go in an entirely different direction and call up an uncapped player with four players in the mix.

Hardworking Highlanders' lock Tom Franklin is among those four players having featured for the Maori All Blacks and is yet to make his test debut but was called into the squad as cover last year.

The Crusaders have two potential call ups with Quinten Strange and Mitchell Dunshea putting in fine shifts over the past season for the Canterbury-based side with the former starting the final.

The final candidate is the Highlanders' Pari Pari Parkinson who could benefit hugely from a call-up and could be a regular member of the squad in the future. However, he is far from a finished product and an early call up could do more harm.