Australia without injured Koroibete for second All Blacks test

:Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has been forced to replace injured Marika Koroibete in his side for Australia's final Rugby Championship test against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.

The Fiji-born winger suffered a wrist injury in the 31-28 loss to the All Blacks in Sydney last week that had swollen up on the flight over to New Zealand, Schmidt told a news conference on Thursday.

Koroibete was named Australia's best test player in 2019 and 2022 but has looked out of sorts in the Rugby Championship and dropped a couple of simple passes in Sydney last Saturday.

Schmidt said Japan-based Koroibete's performance had perhaps been impacted by the injury and questions over whether he would have been dropped in any case were "moot".

"He's still pretty quick. He still managed to open up the defences a couple of times," he told reporters in Wellington.

"His ability to change angle, some of his handling, I think, was compromised a little bit with that wrist during the last game. So, you know, I wouldn't put too much stock by that."

Dylan Pietsch, the 15th indigenous Australian to play for the Wallabies, shone as a replacement at Stadium Australia as the home side fought their way back from a hefty early deficit and gets his reward with a first test start.

In other changes, Jake Gordon returns at scrumhalf in place of Nic White and Ben Donaldson comes onto the bench as backup to flyhalf Noah Lolesio in place of Tom Lynagh.

Schmidt said he had been happy with White's performance in Sydney and the rotation was just a matter of selecting the fresher player.

"There's certainly no one dumped," he added. "We've got confidence in all three of our halfbacks. So it's very much a best fit for any given occasion."

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