All Blacks hopeful Shaun Stevenson will leave the team before their Bledisloe Cup trip to Melbourne in a fortnight, despite impressing in training.
Stevenson was called up to the Rugby Championship squad as injury cover for winger Mark Telea, but looks unlikely to make his test debut against Australia.
With Telea back to full health and Leicester Fainga'nuku on track to feature at Melbourne, the Chiefs star has been let go.
Coach Ian Foster reluctantly reveals Stevenson will depart the squad for good, but is desperate to keep him involved in the future.
"Technically, yes, but we'll assess the injuries to see how we get on," he said.
"I have to say, we've had him and Tevita [Mafileo] in. Tevita will stay, because of Fletcher [Newell's] broken hand, so he'll definitely stay in for the next test.
"Shaun's been outstanding and has gone really well. We'll be looking at whatever opportunity we can to keep him involved."
New Zealand will take on a Wallabies outfit desperate for their first win, after back-to-back defeats to South Africa and Argentina in their opening Rugby Championship matches.
Despite the losses, coach Eddie Jones has fired a warning shot at the All Blacks, before the sides meet for the first Bledisloe Cup match on July 29.
"While it seems doom and gloom at the moment, it's not, he said. "Beating a side here is a fair bit of optimism that we'll be able to change fairly quickly in the next couple of weeks.
"If I was the All Blacks, I'd look out."
Foster agrees with Jones' comments and expects the Wallabies to come out firing in a match where they're keeping their focus solely on themselves.
"He's probably right, we should look out, because they will be hurting," he said. "No-one likes to lose their first couple of tests,
"They're a very proud nation, so I'm sure they will be working really hard to come at us strong.
"Fortunately for us, it's not really our focus. Our focus is on us and we can't wait to go to the MCG.
"We're expecting a home crowd, just about, and it's a special occasion. We love playing at different grounds and I think this game is perfect for us.
"It's these occasions that we've been craving."
