Another week on the sidelines beckons for Canterbury first-five Dan Carter.
Carter is struggling to overcome the pain of a knock to his shin which he fractured back in August.
He's likely to be left out of the squad to place Taranaki this weekend as coach Scott Robertson has the luxury of picking between two other All Black first-fives.
Robertson says Tom Taylor and Colin Slade are likely to be involved.
"We've had conversations around who's available for what games and how they can be reintroduced for us, or are they available to play in the final because we've still got all those players coming back and they need game time."
