Feisty halfback Nic White has been dumped from the Wallabies side to take on the All Blacks in the second clash on Saturday, but coach Joe Schmidt has otherwise resisted the urge to promote star bench performers from the thrilling first Bledisloe Cup game in Sydney.

The return of Jake Gordon to starting halfback, at the expense of White, was the only unforced change made by Schmidt for the return clash in Wellington, where the Wallabies will be seeking to win their first Test in New Zealand since 2001.

A wrist injury to star winger Marika Koroibete has seen former Aussie sevens star Dylan Pietsch given his first Test start, with Josh Flook added to the bench as the reserve outside back.

In the only other change to a settled team, Ben Donaldson has been recalled to the bench as the reserve playmaker, with Tom Lynagh dropping out due to a niggly hamstring injury. Lynagh did not get on the field in the Wallabies’ 31-28 loss to the All Blacks in Sydney.

Schmidt elected to keep big lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto on the bench for the Wellington clash, despite making a strong claim to start with impressive performance from the bench in Sydney in the second half. Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams will start in the second-row.

But Schmidt has clearly opted to retain the second-half impact value of Salakaia-Loto, which was also provided by Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Tate McDermott and Allan Alaalatoa in Sydney.

Pietsch was also strong, and he has been duly trusted with his first start after Koroibete was ruled out with a wrist injury. Max Jorgensen flew home earlier in the week after failing to overcome a virus picked up in Argentina.

It’s unclear whether Koroibete’s injury contributed to an uncharacteristically poor game in Sydney, where he dropped several passes, but the long-term Wallabies future of the two-time John Eales medallist is now under a cloud.