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Chinks in the All Black repertoire are few, but centre is one area in which they are struggling.
The All Blacks remain the side to beat in this World Cup year but late midfield selection dramas continue an uneasy pattern that has seen them derailed in their two previous campaigns.
"We didn't plan for this but we will learn from it," assistant coach Wayne Smith said.
"None of the injuries are terminal so we just have to not panic. I think we have got it covered, I don't think you can pick that position as a problem area other than [Stirling] Mortlock made some linebreaks and played bloody well.
"There was the domino effect of things not working and then all of a sudden you have a static attack against an aggressive defence and we just struggled in that last 10 minutes."
Mortlock, the Wallaby captain and rampant centre, was able to exploit positional switches prompted by the late withdrawal of Leon MacDonald as he led his side to a Bledisloe Cup victory on Saturday at the McG.
Mortlock is a brute to defend at any time and when he got some decent second-half ball he engineered his side's first win in six tests against the All Blacks.
It was a scrappy match, played on a slick surface with a greasy ball after early evening showers restricted what should have been a better spectacle for the 79,322 crowd.
The All Blacks wore their first defeat since last year in South Africa with the grace they needed to and also made a spirited defence of their makeshift midfield pairing of Aaron Mauger and Luke McAlister.
"I think our two boys - for the amount of opportunity they got and what was required of them - they gave their guts for sure," Smith said.
"I don't want to talk about this too much because I thought the kid [McAlister] played well. He made our linebreaks and made tackles. We obviously thought about that but we were pretty comfortable with what we did.
"To be fair to the players, I've got to learn, we've all got to learn. It is not just players who have to improve performances. We've got to look at the tape, plot our way forward, not panic. We've got a plan in place, we've just got to keep working at it." But as coach Graham Henry pointed out before the test, the rearrangements were going to put extra heat on the defensive line from centre. It was a pressure point the Wallabies exposed as their forwards started to gain second-half momentum and Stephen Larkham was able to run and throw his range of attacking passes.
Since Tana Umaga retired at the end of 2005, the All Blacks have picked six different players at centre in 18 tests. Some of the changes were necessary because of injury, others because of the rotation policy, but the disruptions have not helped some of the fluidity and backline understanding.
Mils Muliaina has played there six times, Isaia Toeava five times, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu and Luke McAlister all twice and Casey Laulala a single appearance against Ireland.
Centre remains the most unstable selection area and Henry has stated strongly, ever since his appointment, how the All Blacks cannot afford to be short of specialist backup as they were when Umaga was injured at the last World Cup.
On Saturday they were caught out and suffered. In a similar situation at the World Cup they would have to make do from within their squad and succeed, otherwise they would be packing their bags for an early tournament exit.
Time is cutting into their options, with just two tests before the World Cup squad is named. MacDonald will miss the rest of the Tri-Nations with his groin tear so Muliaina is likely to be used at fullback.
That leaves Toeava and Smith, but both preferred centre options are injured.
Wayne Smith almost indicated that his namesake had to play in Christchurch if he was fit, as he needed to get some time at the highest level.
Isaia Toeava: Bruised shoulder. Reported to be on track for the next Tri-Nations test in Christchurch in a fortnight against the Springboks.
Conrad Smith: Sixty minutes of a Wellington club game on Saturday. Expected to play again this week but he has had little rugby because of an unco-operative hamstring.
