England suffered the first setback of their Antipodean tour today when they lost in-form scrum-half Matt Dawson to injury less than 24 hours after he had been named in the side to take on New Zealand in Wellington.
Dawson had been nursing an injured thigh, but all the indications were that with the right rehabilitation he would be fit to start his 51st Test on Saturday night.
But the Northampton star, one of England's stand-out performers this season, did not respond to treatment as expected and failed to prove he was ready in time for today's training session, so Kyran Bracken will start.
"Matt didn't pass the fitness test. We mentioned the other day that him and Neil Back didn't train. We gave him until this morning and he didn't make it," said head coach Clive Woodward.
"I thought he was going to be fine. I thought he would be fit, which is why I put him in the side.
"He hasn't trained with the side at all, Kyran has trained with the side since Tuesday."
With the Test only three days away, the news of Dawson's withdrawal is far from ideal, but Woodward insisted the transition would be virtually seamless given Bracken's experience.
After all, the pair have been tussling for the England number nine shirt since Bracken made his debut against the All Blacks in 1993, when Dawson was on the bench.
"We are lucky we have got three quality scrum-halves. Bracken had a great game on Monday night against the New Zealand Maori," said Woodward.
"Dawson is a world-class player, so is Kyran Bracken, and I thought Andy Gomarsall played particularly well for us in the autumn Test matches.