New Zealand’s mounting injury toll claimed another victim on Thursday when All Blacks centre Conrad Smith was ruled out this weekend’s Test against Canada in Hamilton.
Smith had been hoping to make his international comeback on Saturday but was forced to delay his return because of lingering problems with his troublesome hamstring.
Luke McAlister will start at outside centre alongside Aaron Mauger and Rico Gear comes on to the replacement bench after being promoted from the Junior All Blacks.
New Zealand are using the match to experiment with new combinations in preparation for this year’s World Cup and made 11 changes to the team that thrashed European champions France a week ago.
Flyhalf Dan Carter returns to the side after rolling his ankle in the first of the two Tests against the French while Reuben Thorne takes over the captaincy after Richie McCaw was named on the reserves bench.
Lock Ross Filipo and loosehead prop John Schwalger were both chosen to make their Test debuts in a new-look pack missing four players to injury — Ali Williams, Keith Robinson, James Ryan and Jason Eaton.
New Zealand are also using Saturday’s match to finalise their preparations for the Tri-Nations, which starts on Saturday when South Africa host Australia in Cape Town. New Zealand’s first game is against the Springboks in Durban on June 23.
The Canadians are looking ahead to the World Cup and have little real chance of upsetting the All Blacks. They have lost each of their three previous encounters by an average of 48 points and recent form is not encouraging.
Canada were beaten 59-23 by New Zealand Maori in the Churchill Cup in England in May, although they showed some encouraging signs by beating the United States 52-10 in their last outing.
”Some wonder why Canada is playing the All Blacks but this is going to be a great learning experience,” Canada centre Craig Culpan told the New Zealand Press Association.
”You have to play teams better than you in order to raise your level of play.” — Reuters