Bay of Plenty scrum half Kevin Senio is set to be called up by All Blacks coach Graham Henry to replace the injured Byron Kelleher.
The All Blacks No.9 is set to be ruled out of Saturday's Bledisloe Cup clash with Australia this weekend with concussion after being on the end of a crunching tackle from South Africa's Victor Matfield during the 22-16 defeat.
The Springbok lock was cited for the challenge but has since been cleared by a judicial committee.
Senio will meet the squad in Sydney tomorrow and act as back-up to Piri Weepu.
There are also concerns over skipper Tana Umaga who damaged his ankle in the 22-16 defeat.
"It takes more than 24 hours to work out what wrong but he's rolled his ankle and it's severe enough to put him in doubt," All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen told allblacks.com.
Kelleher is expected to miss one week but that was dependent on further medical assessments when he returned home.
Senio got the nod over fellow Junior All Blacks from the June tour of Australia - Steve Devine and Jimmy Cowan - and will make his Test debut if he takes the field at Telstra Stadium.
"They were all in the frame but we felt after a debrief with the Junior All Blacks coaches (Colin Cooper and Ian Foster) Senio was the next cab off the rank," Hansen said.
No one has been put on standby for Umaga, with Hurricanes and Wellington teammate Conrad Smith the likely replacement now he has recovered from virus.