All Black forward hospitalised

Dixon was set to start for the Highlanders in their 40-15 win over the Sunwolves in Invercargill on Saturday morning (UK time).

However, after waking up in serious pain on Thursday, the forward ended up being taken to a hospital.

His tweet nevertheless suggests he is in good spirits.

Highlanders coach Tony Brown said the target was to have Dixon available for their trip to South Africa.

"He woke up with an infection in his leg so he's in hospital at the moment. We are just trying to get that under control, so he's an unlikely starter next week.

"It blew up overnight and he was in all sorts of pain. He had to quickly get antibiotics into him and blood tests and ended up in hospital.

"He will be on antibiotics all week and hopefully we can get him right to get on the plane to South Africa."