Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock has been ruled out of Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup rugby test against the All Blacks due to concussion.
In a significant blow to coach Robbie Deans' hopes of toppling his former team, Mortlock was officially scratched tonight after failing to recover sufficiently from a heavy head knock suffered in the first half of the Wallabies' 16-9 win over South Africa in Perth last Saturday.
It means flanker George Smith will captain the hosts at ANZ Stadium in Sydney, while Western Force's Ryan Cross is expected to replace Mortlock at centre.
"Stirling was concussed last weekend. We had hoped that, with time, the symptoms would resolve themselves, but that hasn't happened soon enough for this match, so we've made the call early," Deans said.
"George took over once Stirling left the field in Perth and got the team over the finish line so we've opted to maintain continuity by leaving him in charge."
Deans will confirm his team in Sydney tomorrow afternoon.
