Friday 19 August 2016 10:21, UK
New Zealand hooker Nathan Harris has been ruled out of Saturday's Rugby Championship match against Australia after sustaining a knee injury in training.
The All Blacks said Friday that Harris injured his ACL tendon in a late Thursday session and will be replaced by Codie Taylor.
"Looks like he'll be out for the season," All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said of Harris.
Regular hooker Dane Coles was promoted to the bench despite not being selected originally as he recovers from a rib cartilage injury.
Hansen said Coles had only travelled with the squad to Sydney to receive treatment after being hurt while leading the Hurricanes to their first Super Rugby title two weeks ago.
But with Harris out, Hansen had no alternative on Friday but to call on his first-choice No 2.
"If something happened in the first minute (to Taylor), he (Coles) will get the 80, no problem," Hansen said at the All Blacks' captain's run. "So we thought if we could give him an extra week he wouldn't have that problem. But now we don't have that luxury so we'll see how he goes when the time comes."
Captain Kieran Read admitted the front-row upheaval was "a little bit of a distraction late in the piece that you don't want".
"But a guy like Dane Coles, who's vastly experienced, comes onto the bench and Codie's had plenty of reps this week," Read added. "So things just roll on from that point of view."
Harris is the second touring All Black to suffer a knee injury this week after centre George Moala tore a medial ligament on Monday and was ruled out for at least the first two matches of the Rugby Championship, which are both Bledisloe Cup matches.
Fellow centre Sonny Bill Williams sustained a tournament-ending Achilles tendon tear at the Rio Olympics last week.
