Wallabies skipper Stirling Mortlock has been ruled out of Saturday night's opening Bledisloe Cup Test against New Zealand in Sydney.
Mortlock failed to recover sufficiently from the head knock he sustained in the second half of last weekend's Tri-Nations Test match against South Africa.
Rugby league convert Ryan Cross, who has been on the bench for the Wallabies in their four Tests so far this season, is expected to replace Mortlock and make his run-on debut.
Flanker George Smith takes on the captaincy.
"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," Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said.
AAP
