Qantas Wallabies skipper Stirling Mortlock has today been ruled out of Saturday night’s opening Bledisloe Cup Test against New Zealand in Sydney.

Mortlock has failed to recover sufficiently from the head knock he sustained in the second half of last weekend’s Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series and Tri-Nations Test match against South Africa.

His departure led to flanker George Smith assuming the captaincy.

Smith will continue in that role at ANZ Stadium.

”Stirling was concussed last weekend. We had hoped that, with time, the symptoms would resolve themselves, but that hasn’t happened soon enough for this match, so we’ve made the call early,” Qantas Wallabies coach Robbie Deans says.

“George took over once Stirling left the field in Perth and got the team over the finish line so we’ve opted to maintain continuity by leaving him in charge.”

The Qantas Wallabies team for Saturday night’s match will be announced at a public function in Martin Place, Sydney, at 1.30pm tomorrow.

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