Ruben Wiki has inadvertently sidelined New Zealand and Sydney Roosters centre Iosia Soliola from rugby league for six months, with further scans revealing he needs a full shoulder reconstruction.

Originally ruled out of the World Cup on Tuesday due to a rotator cuff tear in his right shoulder, an examination of Soliola's left shoulder revealed more significant damage and he was booked for an immediate reconstruction.

"It needs surgery and will take about six months recovery. He's probably going to miss the start of next (NRL) season," Kiwis team doctor Simon Mayhew said.

"He's having surgery on the left today, and when he's more comfortable with that in a few weeks times they'll go in and do the right one."

The culprit? Legendary former Kiwis skipper Wiki and that memorable charge from a kickoff during the New Zealand Warriors' NRL semi-final against the Roosters in Auckland last month.

Not only did Wiki smash through Soliola's attempted tackle and leave him seeing stars, he also caused widespread cartilage damage to his left shoulder. Not that it was apparent at the time.

"(Soliola) hadn't mentioned anything about the left side to us. We knew it was the left side that was hit in the big tackle he made on Ruben in the playoff game," Mayhew said.

"He said it had been a bit sore but on our initial examination it seemed good. Obviously an MRI scan revealed a lot of damage.

"Sia's taken a lot of tackles during the year, but that's the one (Wiki) they're pinning it on.

"Basically it's an open reconstruction. The shoulder's unstable and they need to repair the cartilage structure there, otherwise he could run into major problems in the future."

Mayhew said Wiki, now retired and part of the Kiwis' World Cup staff as a trainer, was unaware his run had caused any lasting damage to his former test teammate.

The initial prognosis for Soliola, 22, was three to four months on the sidelines when he was ruled out of the Kiwis' campaign this week, and replaced in the squad by Wests Tigers forward Bronson Harrison.

The left shoulder damage was only revealed on Wednesday when a Sydney orthopaedic surgeon was examining the right shoulder ahead of surgery, and Soliola requested he look at the left because it had also been troubling him.

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