 In 1984 Loveridge suffered a serious knee injury, which hampered his game for the rest of his career.He joined the New Zealand Cavaliers for the rebel tour of South Africa in 1986, which proved to be his final appearance in the black jersey.He retired from New Zealand first class rugby at the end of that year, at age 34, after 54 matches for the All Blacks and 136 games for Taranaki.