All Blacks: Injury and uncertainty surround unlucky 13

It is almost like the grisly old days of the 2003 World Cup or, dare we whisper it, the last tournament in Cardiff.

The uncertainty is all about the No 13 jersey and who will play centre for the All Blacks when they next meet the Springboks at Hamilton in a fortnight.

Several candidates are dinged and out of the rest of the Tri-Nations. Conrad Smith will not recover from his latest hamstring troubles for at least a month and Luke McAlister will be out for a similar time after surgery yesterday to repair his broken cheekbone while Richard Kahui is gone for the season..

And just when the national selectors were keen to see how Wellington centre Tamati Ellison responded to the heat of a Ranfurly Shield defence, he strained a leg muscle and probably removed himself from a test debut.

There are still a number of contenders but Isaia Toeava may be topping that list, almost by default now. He has started in that role twice this season, outside Ma'a Nonu, against France and Italy without ever looking comfortable. He then struggled with a stress fracture in his foot and is only returning to full fitness.

His immediate chance for redemption comes tomorrow at Eden Park where he will play centre for Auckland with another test hopeful, Joe Rokocoko, outside him.

Nonu could be slipped out a place to centre where he will play in tonight's Shield defence and where he impressed coming off the bench last week in the Bledisloe Cup victory in Sydney.

Another option would be to switch fullback Mils Muliaina to centre as the selectors have done during times of crisis. That would allow them to play Cory Jane at fullback after he strangely disappeared from the selection radar when he played so steadily in the first Bledisloe victory at Eden Park.

All those ideas will be noted on the selectors' checklist as they investigate the candidates this weekend with Wayne Smith in the capital tonight for the Shield match while Graham Henry will be at Eden Park tomorrow.

The choices become broader if the national panel perseveres with the five-eighths combination of Stephen Donald and Daniel Carter which finished the test in Sydney because of the injuries.

That combination offers the advantages of a left- and right-footed tactical kicker to use either side of breakdowns but there would be questions about the wisdom of removing Carter, the best playmaker in the world, away from the starting combination.

All last year, Nonu played particularly well, better than at any other stage of his international career, as he revelled in working alongside Carter. It was a damaging duo even though the selectors wanted Nonu to develop his kicking game more. But with Carter in command, it did not seem to matter.

After Nonu sparked once more in Sydney a week ago, it would seem logical to reunite him with Carter against the Boks. Then the hoary old centre selection chestnut returns. Toeava, Muliaina, Cory Aporo, Tim Bateman, Jason Kawau?