12 changes for All Blacks, including a first Tuivasa-Sheck start

The All Blacks have made a dozen changes to their starting XV to face Japan on Saturday, Brodie Retallick, Richie Mo’unga and Caleb Clarke the three players who have kept their places from the team that defeated Australia in round six of The Rugby Championship in Auckland.

That 40-14 win for the All Blacks over the Wallabies on September 24 clinched them the title and they now open their northern hemisphere tour in Tokyo with a much-changed line-up that sees the fit-again Sam Cane restored as captain and six of the Eden Park bench from the last outing promoted to the starting XV.

Those promotions include Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, who will win his third cap and his first start. Tuivasa-Sheck has been named in the midfield alongside Braydon Ennor. Another player starting a Test for the first time will be Stephen Perofeta.

Tyrel Lomax, Dalton Papali’i and Aaron Smith, three other starters versus the Wallabies, have been named on the bench against the Japanese. Smith is providing cover for Finlay Christie, who is making just his second start, and if he does take the field, he will equal Dan Carter as the sixth-most capped All Blacks player with 112 Tests.

The game will see the All Blacks make their debut at the Japan National Stadium which recently hosted the Olympic Games and the sell-out crowd of 65,000 will be Japan’s largest-ever crowd for a home international rugby match played outside the 2019 World Cup.

“This northern tour is going to be huge,” said All Blacks boss Foster. “We see four incredibly tough Tests ahead and this one against Japan will ask some serious questions of us. We want to show that we are ready to respond. We want to show that we have put in the work required to lift our game even further after the Rugby Championship.

“We have a lot of respect for Japanese rugby, the fans and the culture of this country as a whole. What an exciting way to kick off the next part of our journey as a group.”

All Blacks (vs Japan, Saturday)
1. George Bower (19)
2. Dane Coles (84)
3. Nepo Laulala (42)
4. Brodie Retallick (98)
5. Tupou Vaa’i (15)
6. Shannon Frizell (21)
7. Sam Cane (85) (captain)
8. Hoskins Sotutu (12)
9. Finlay Christie (12)
10. Richie Mo’unga (41)
11. Caleb Clarke (11)
12. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (2)
13. Braydon Ennor (5)
14. Sevu Reece (21)
15. Stephen Perofeta (1)
16. Samisoni Taukei’aho (17)
17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi (48)
18. Tyrel Lomax (20)
19. Patrick Tuipulotu (42)
20. Dalton Papali’i (18)
21. Aaron Smith (111)
22. David Havili (21)
23. Anton Lienert-Brown (56)