Carter switched to inside centre

RUGBY BLEDISLOE CUP:NEW ZEALAND have switched Dan Carter to inside centre for Saturday's historic Bledisloe Cup Test against Australia in Hong Kong. Coach Graham Henry has made the change in order to accommodate Stephen Donald, who will make his first Test start at outhalf.

Henry has also given Wellington winger Hosea Gear - brother of Worcester's ex-All Black Rico Gear - his Test debut as reward for an impressive Air New Zealand Cup campaign.

Donald earned his place with an impressive performance off the bench in New Zealand's 28-24 victory over the Wallabies in Brisbane in September, which sealed the the Bledisloe Cup.

New Zealand embark on a Grand Slam tour after tackling Australia and Henry wanted to give Carter, who joins Perpignan after the tour, and Donald the chance to get game-time.

"Stephen was influential when he came on in the last Bledisloe Cup Test in Brisbane and deserves to start," he said.

"We thought it was important to have two navigators on the field because of their lack of rugby over the last six weeks."

Mils Muliaina has been named at fullback even though he is still in New Zealand following the birth of his son. Prop Greg Somerville starts on the bench.

Meanwhile, Scotland's scrumhalf crisis eased yesterday following positive reports on the fitness of Rory Lawson and Mark McMillan. Coach Frank Hadden was facing a potential headache for next month's Tests, with three of his possible number nines sidelined. Perpignan's Chris Cusiter had already been ruled out with a fractured thumb, while Gloucester's Lawson was a doubt after suffering a rib-cartilage injury.

That led to Glasgow's McMillan being drafted in as cover for the current warm-weather training camp in Spain but he sustained knocks to a shoulder and hip during a session on Monday afternoon.

Lawson's injury is not as bad as first feared, however, while McMillan could resume training by Friday.

NEW ZEALAND:M Muliaina; H Gear, C Smith, D Carter, S Sivivatu; S Donald, J Cowan; T Woodcock, A Hore, N Tialata; B Thorn, A Williams; J Kaino, R McCaw (capt) R So'oialo. Replacements: K Mealamu, G Somerville, A Boric, A Thomson, P Weepu, M Nonu, I Toeava.