Wallabies skipper Stirling Mortlock won’t play in Saturday’s Tri-Nations clash against the All Blacks after being ruled out with concussion.
Mortlock has failed to recover from the blow to the head he took during last weekend’s win over South Africa.
Flanker George Smith will replace Mortlock as Australian captain for the match at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium.
“Stirling was concussed last weekend. We had hoped that, with time, the symptoms would resolve themselves, but that hasn’t happened soon enough for this match, so we’ve made the call early,” Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said.
“George took over once Stirling left the field in Perth and got the team over the finish line so we’ve opted to maintain continuity by leaving him in charge.”
The Australian team lineup will be announced tomorrow afternoon.