No Carter for All Blacks

Ruled out: Dan Carter

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New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter has been ruled out of Saturday's clash with Wales at the Millennium Stadium.

Test rugby's leading points-scorer suffered an ankle injury in training at the University of Glamorgan on Thursday and was declared unfit after undergoing a scan at a Cardiff hospital.

"Gutted not to be playing," said Carter on his Twitter account.

The 30-year-old, who has won 93 caps and never been on the losing side against Wales, was named in the starting line-up after being an unused replacement in last week's 42-10 victory over Italy.

Aaron Cruden, who has not lost in 18 games for the world champions, will now replace Carter, with Beauden Barrett joining the bench.

New Zealand are bidding to extend their unbeaten run over the Welsh which stretches back to 1953.

All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw was disappointed to lose Carter but is confident Cruden will be able to fill his shoes.

"It is something you can't control. It is disappointing for Dan, but the next guy will come in and we will try to give him some good ball to operate with," McCaw said.

"Aaron has played a few Tests, some pretty big games. Dan is a pretty good footballer, 90-something Tests. He is hard to replace, but we've got to get on and have belief in the next guys."

New Zealand (revised): 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Victor Vito, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ben Smith.