The All Blacks' preparation for a test in which they could retain the Bledisloe Cup has been hampered slightly by a knee injury to flanker Sam Cane.
Cane, dressed in a tracksuit top and trainers, took little part in this afternoon's captain's run at Eden Park. The 26-year-old, who has played 56 tests, was limping and clearly favoured a knee which he injured at training yesterday.
Skipper Kieran Read said his loose forward teammate should be okay to start against the Wallabies, but it wouldn't surprise to see Ardie Savea wearing the No 7 jersey instead.
With Matt Todd playing for Japanese club side Panasonic, the All Blacks have little specialist cover for openside flanker. Should Cane be ruled out, it's possible that Shannon Frizell, who was seen running a few moves off the back of the scrum at the end of training today, could come on to the reserves bench.
"It's just precautionary and he's having a day off today," Read said. "At the moment he's still good to go."