Centre Aaron Mauger has been ruled out of the New Zealand team seeking a Bledisloe Cup clean sweep of Australia at Eden Park.
Mauger has failed to shake off a groin strain picked up in training and will not be risked by Kiwi coach Graham Henry.
The All Blacks can effectively wrap up the Tri-Nations with a third victory of the season over the Wallabies, but will do without their influential inside centre who succumbed to a groin strain.
North Harbour and Blues five-eighth Luke McAlister will start at number 12, with Auckland captain Sam Tuitupou stepping up to the reserves.
That leaves Henry's side with an inexperienced midfield, with 20-year-old Isaia Toeava partnering McAlister in the centres.
Assistant coach Wayne Smith had said that the much-criticised rotation policy had been implemented for such emergencies.
'The idea of creating two players in each position, 30 genuine test players is to cover this sort of situation,' he said.
'There's a lot more trust today than there would have been a year ago.'
