All Blacks coach Ian Foster admits he came close to summoning veteran lock Sam Whitelock into his line-up to face South Africa on Saturday, but has left his ailing kingpin on ice for two more weeks, with his niggly Achilles tendon injury.
Whitelock's availability has become a literal and metaphoric sorepoint in the New Zealand camp, after he risked further aggravating the injury by turning out for the Crusaders in the Super Rugby Pacific final, battling through an 80-minute, man-of-the-match performance in their victory over the Chiefs.
He was spelled from the All Blacks' convincing victory over Argentina at Mendoza last weekend, perhaps in the hope he would be right for the Springboks, but Foster has chosen to err on the side of caution, naming Brodie Retallick and Scott Barrett in his second row.
"He's available for selection, based on where his body's at," said Foster. "We made a decision, by not playing him this week, we can give him an extra week after that and it gives us a decent block of recovery for that leg.
"He would be available to play, but we've made a long-term decision, rather than a medical decision on that one."
After this week's encounter at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart, the All Blacks have a weekend off, before taking on Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Foster and Whitelock are now targeting that fixture for a return to play.
"It's never easy, is it, but he's progressed well," said Foster. "He trained pretty well last, but had a bit of a setback near the end of the week.
"He's good as gold, but probably has a little bit to go to where we think he can get to, so very tempting, but we made a decision for the bigger picture."
Whitelock's absence may be offset by the possible loss of rival Eben Etzebeth to the Springboks, after the father Harry died in Cape Town this week. The 110-cap lock had been named captain for the All Blacks encounter, but may now return home to be with family.
"He'd be a massvie loss," said Foster. "That's tragic news, but I'm sure they'll deal with it the right way.
"We haven't really thought about the impact, they have a lot of quality players, and I'm sure they will adapt and adjust. Right now, our thoughts go out to him, as a person."
Rookie winger Emoni Narawa was not available for NZ selection - his back tightened up, after his debut against the Pumas - while fellow winger Leicester Fainga'anuku has not recovered from a calf injury in time to push his case.
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