McCaw to miss Bledisloe battle

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw has not recovered sufficiently from his ankle injury and is out of Saturday's Bledisloe Cup Test against Australia in Sydney.

McCaw had trained well with the All Blacks squad early in the week and was bracketed with Auckland's Daniel Braid at openside flanker in the hope of a return from his high ankle sprain.

But the injury was deemed too risky to take into the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Nations match against the Wallabies and Braid will start his fourth Test after appearances against Wales, Canada and Tonga in 2002 and 2003.

McCaw's withdrawal means both the All Blacks and Wallabies captains have been ruled out of the match - Stirling Mortlock being ruled out on Tuesday due to a head clash in Australia's 16-9 win over South Africa in Perth.

Rodney So'oialo was moved to No.7 in the opening two Tri Nations matches against the Springboks but the All Blacks coaches have opted for a specialist in Braid to combat outstanding Australian pair George Smith and Phil Waugh.

In McCaw's absence, So'oialo will again captain the All Blacks and play at blindside flanker alongside Braid and No.8 Jerome Kaino.

Adam Thomson comes into a 24-man squad to travel to Sydney as loose forward cover while wing Rudi Wulf is the other player flown over as cover for the match-day 22.

Meanwhile, lock Kevin O'Neill, who has trained with the All Blacks in Wellington this week, will report for duty with Waikato in an Air New Zealand Cup pre-season match against Bay of Plenty on Wednesday night.