The All Blacks have been rocked by the withdrawal of outside centre Jack Goodhue from the starting line-up for Saturday's Rugby Championship showdown with the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld.
Goodhue was going to line up alongside Sonny Bill Williams in midfield, having last played with the offload king against France in June.
But the Crusaders star was ruled out shortly before the 5.05pm kickoff in Pretoria due to illness, the All Blacks announced on their Twitter feed on Saturday.
"UPDATE: All Blacks midfielder Jack Goodhue has been ruled out of today’s Test against South Africa with illness. Ryan Crotty will now start in the 13 jersey. Anton Lienert-Brown comes onto the bench in the 23 jersey. #RSAvNZL"
Goodhue was outstanding in helping the Crusaders clinch their second consecutive Super Rugby title this year, with his hard-running style and relentless work in defence the two stand-out features of his game.
He also possess fine passing skills, and said in the build-up that he was looking forward to feed off Williams' offloads.
But now Crotty gets a chance to prove to coach Steve Hansen that he should still be the starting outside centre leading up to next year's Rugby World Cup in Japan.
UPDATE: All Blacks midfielder Jack Goodhue has been ruled out of today’s Test against South Africa with illness. Ryan Crotty will now start in the 13 jersey. Anton Lienert-Brown comes onto the bench in the 23 jersey. #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/ziBnR5vwse
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 6, 2018
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