Ioane ruled out of Bledisloe duel

Wallabies wing Digby Ioane has been ruled out of the Bledisloe Cup clash with the All Blacks in Brisbane this weekend due to a knee injury.

The explosive runner originally suffered the injury in Australia's loss to the Springboks at Loftus Versveld and was able to play the following week against Argentina in Rosario, but the knee flared up on the trip back from South America and he has not recovered sufficiently to be available on Saturday.

Ioane is expected to be fit for the Wallabies' year-end tour of Europe, but his absence this weekend will be a huge blow to his team's hopes of ending the All Blacks 16-match unbeaten streak.

The candidates to replace him in the starting line-up are utility back Adam-Ashley-Cooper and wings Drew Mitchell and Dom Shipperley.

Mitchell has recently returned from an ankle injury and is more experienced than Shipperley whilst Ashley-Cooper is likely to make his return to the side at outside centre.

There was some good news for Wallabies coach Robbie Deans on Monday with veteran loose forward Radike Samo cleared to play after recovering from a bicep injury.