Fly-half Carter is among a host of injury doubts ahead of the three-Test series against their 2011 World Cup final opponents, which include a number of props struggling and halfback Piri Weepu also unlikely.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said they’d make a call on Carter after the swelling in his hand went down.
“It’s only a crack, it’s not completely broken, not displaced,” he told Fairfax NZ. “We’ll see how the swelling goes and make a decision on that late in the week.”
Chiefs pivot Aaron Cruden is the likely replacement for Carter, while Beauden Barrett will sit on the bench.
Prop Tony Woodcock is the most in trouble of the five props, with a hamstring strain and an abscess in his nose.
“They’ve all got hamstrings, I don’t know,” Hansen said. “On top of that poor old Woody has got an abscess and he looks a bit like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer at the moment.
“We’ve brought in Joe Moody so we can have some scrummaging and we’ll make decisions about how those guys are once we can get them on the track.”
Image via Getty