All Blacks: Ben Smith to be rested

Ben Smith will miss the Bledisloe Cup clash in Brisbane.

The All Blacks, partly forced by injury but more driven by their previous experience of falling flat in the final Bledisloe encounter of the year, will make some squad changes to face Australia, with the decision made to rest Ben Smith.

All Black coach Steve Hansen believes that Smith, as a consequence of captaining the Highlanders to the knockout rounds and playing every minute of the Rugby Championship, needs some time off to recharge a flat battery.

Smith will stay at home, providing an opportunity for Cory Jane and Charles Piutau to win some game time.

Brodie Retallick and Aaron Cruden will come back into the mix and Dominic Bird and Patrick Tuipulotu are available to strengthen the options at lock.

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One of the unknowns is whether Daniel Carter will sign himself off as ready to get back into test football. He was forced to miss Canterbury's game against Tasman on the weekend and Hansen is reluctant to re-introduce Carter until the 100-test veteran feels he's confident and ready to be back playing at that level.

"He's missed that game at the weekend which is disappointing," said Hansen. "We were hoping he'd get another one before we took him to Brisbane. I'll have to have a chat to him when I get back home and see how he is.

"Whether we give him another game, miss the Brisbane one and he plays again for Canterbury...

"We want to bring him in when he is feeling confident rather than bring him in and have him play his way through something. We did that last time and it was a nightmare for him. We want to bring him in when he is confident within himself and get the real Dan Carter."

The other unknown is whether the All Blacks will take a third halfback to Brisbane and who that might be given the confirmation that Tawera Kerr-Barlow has suffered major damage to his leg.

"He has done his ACL cruciate ligament and he has torn the back of his hamstring off as well and his medial ligament," revealed Hansen.

"He needs an operation when he gets home. But he's about a six to nine month recovery which is pretty major.

"We have to sort out who the third one [halfback] is over the next couple of week. He's a brave boy to get up and do what he did. Gutsy as hell really. It's one of those things. He'll have to work hard at his rehab but I'm sure he'll come back. He's a tough kid."

The options would most likely be Kerr-Barlow's fellow Chief, Augustine Pulu and Blues halfback Bryn Hall.

While Hansen said the squad were disappointed to have suffered their first defeat in 22 tests, they are not about to rip everything up and start again. The first half hour was far from their best work but the All Blacks produced enough quality football, heart and spirit to accept the defeat had more to do with the Springboks' excellence than their shortcomings.

"This loss isn't like we have pulled the plug out and all the water has gone down the drain," said Hansen.

"We are still tracking along quite nicely and even yesterday apart from the first 25 minutes we played some good rugby. If you don't play well against a good side you end up giving yourself a bigger mountain to climb and we did that.

"We were good enough to get in front and then it was unfortunate that a guy gets tackled, slips over and he's going to ground the other guys trying to take him in a ball and all tackle hits him in the head. If he'd [Schalk Burger] stayed in his feet a fraction longer we might all be sitting here with big happy faces."