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All Blacks Rugby Championship squad announced
By Kim Ekin
The All Blacks have announced the first squad of the season – a 36-man squad for The Rugby Championship.
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Five newbies have been selected: Samipeni Finau, Dallas McLeod, Emoni Narawa, Cam Roigard and Tamaiti Williams.
Foster and co also named Shaun Stevenson as an injury replacement for Mark Telea who is injured for the next few weeks. Foster said he was looking to see more from Stevenson defensively before he could be promoted to the World Cup squad.
Foster also revealed the semi-finals informed his decision-making and one player was replaced in the past 24 hours. The All Blacks XV squad was also announced on the night.
The squad is as follows:
Hookers:
Codie Taylor (32, Crusaders / Canterbury, 76)
Dane Coles (36, Hurricanes / Wellington, 84)
Samisoni Taukei’aho (25, Chiefs / Waikato, 24)
Props:
Ethan de Groot (24, Highlanders / Southland, 13)
Fletcher Newell (23, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)
Nepo Laulala (31, Blues / Counties Manukau, 45)
Ofa Tu’ungafasi (31, Blues / Northland, 50)
Tamaiti Williams (22, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)
Tyrel Lomax (27, Hurricanes / Tasman, 23)
Locks:
Brodie Retallick (32, Chiefs / Hawkes Bay, 100)
Josh Lord (22, Chiefs / Taranaki, 2)
Samuel Whitelock (34, Crusaders / Canterbury, 143)
Scott Barrett (29, Crusaders / Taranaki, 58)
Tupou Vaa’i (23, Chiefs / Taranaki, 18)
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Loose forwards:
Ardie Savea (29, Hurricanes / Wellington, 70)
Dalton Papali’i (25, Blues / Counties Manukau, 22)
Luke Jacobson (26, Chiefs / Waikato, 12)
Sam Cane (captain) (31, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, 86)
Samipeni Finau (24, Chiefs / Waikato, *)
Shannon Frizell (29, Highlanders / Tasman, 25)
Halfbacks:
Aaron Smith (34, Highlanders / Manawatu, 114)
Finlay Christie (27, Blues / Tasman, 14)
Cam Roigard (22, Hurricanes / Counties Manukau, *)
First-five eighths:
Beauden Barrett (32, Blues / Taranaki, 112)
Damian McKenzie (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 40)
Richie Mo’unga (29, Crusaders / Canterbury, 44)
Midfielders:
Anton Lienert-Brown (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 60)
Jordie Barrett (26, Hurricanes / Taranaki, 48)
Rieko Ioane (26, Blues / Auckland, 59)
Braydon Ennor (25, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)
Dallas McLeod (24, Crusaders / Canterbury, *)
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Outside backs:
Caleb Clarke (24, Blues / Auckland, 15)
Emoni Narawa (23, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, *)
Leicester Fainga’anuku (23, Crusaders / Tasman, 2)
Mark Telea (26, Blues / North Harbour, 2)
Will Jordan (25, Crusaders / Tasman, 21)
Note: Shaun Stevenson (26, Chiefs / North Harbour, *) has been added as injury cover for Mark Telea for the start of the Lipovitan-D Rugby Championship.
“We are very excited about the group we have selected,” Foster said. “The Lipovitan-D Rugby Championship is a vital piece in our preparation for the World Cup later in the year. It’s a key opportunity to get our game ready so we can enter the global tournament with confidence.”
Foster has also announced that Sam Cane will return as captain of the All Blacks.
“Sam has proven himself as a great leader of our team despite having had a disrupted couple of seasons leading into this one,” said Foster. “We have total belief that he is the right man to lead us.”
The selectors also congratulated the five uncapped players – Cam Roigard, Dallas McLeod, Emoni Narawa, Samipeni Finau and Tamaiti Williams – who have impressed in DHL Super Rugby Pacific.
“This is very special day for them and their families who I’m sure will be extremely proud of their achievements,” Foster said. “We have a new group of exciting players who will be keen to make a difference in the All Black jersey.”
Not happy to see Beauden selected. Yeah take him as our 3rd choice 10 for the WC but for the championship we needed to see 'form' rewarded particularly what a return to a specialist at 15 (Jordan backed up by Stevenson) could have presented, running off the shoulders of a Reiko or Jordie. Everyone playing in their 'preferred' positions.
Beauden is just simply not a test 15 never reading when/how to run off Reiko, and over and above this has been out of form for 18 months now so some time playing Bunnings behind an AB stacked Auckland forward pack to get his confidence back before the WC should have been the message sent to him.
Nothing wrong with Stevensons defence too btw Foster! I too was one who questioned that so always look at him defensively now. This is just an excuse to push Beaudens case to use the championship to find form. Ridiculous.
A pretty exciting squad. They've been ruthless enough to move past players who won't cut it. But I don't really get the Christie selection. Stoked for Roigard, and he is a point of difference. Stevenson would be in there for me but apparently he needs to work on his defense. Clearly they want one big winger on the left with either CC or FN.
Brad could be called in the day before the World Cup final and he would be good to go, I feel like that ultimately worked against him, they get more value by working on Finlay. Stoked for Roigard though, well deserved.
One change after the weekend...Akira Ioane..surely.
Not mobile enough in the front row, ageing 1st choice locks, a journeyman as captain, just one AB quality scrum half, only one out and out fly half, only one experienced centre who hasn't played in over a year, wingers that can't kick. Taukei’aho, Savea and Jordan are the only three players I can see who would push for a spot in a world fifteen and of them, probably only Savea would make it right now. It will be interesting to see how they cope with the underdog tag at the RWC as they have never gone into a tournament with such a lack of cohesion and consistency across all major positions on the park. This is clearly not the fault of the players because the talent in this squad and more broadly across Super Rugby and the NPC is as good of not better than at any other point in history. Seeing what he was able to do with the Barbarians, I think NZ would stand a better chance at this RWC if they just sacked Foster now and put Razor in charge with 80 days to go. Any armchair rugby fan could have done a better job than Foster.
If one also considers the NZ 15 squad there is a lot of talent on display. The guys I think most unlucky is Rameka Poihipi and Levi Aumua. Room for more bolters for France, esp props and midfield. Stephenson also.
Will be glad to see that back of Foster after the World Cup.
There's no way Christie should be in the squad. Clarke over Stevenson is criminal. Taking ALB to France after more than a year out is silly, but they're getting to the semis at best so oh well
The coaches were drunk when they left Shaun Stevenson out. Injury cover? How can they argue that CC is in better form than Shooter? The rest of the squad is kinda exciting but Shooter missing out is a shambles.