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George Bell named in All Blacks team to face Ireland

George Bell of the All Blacks looks on ahead of The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between Australia Wallabies and New Zealand All Blacks at Accor Stadium on September 21, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has named his team to face Ireland, mainly sticking to the starting line-up who beat England.

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With Codie Taylor and Beauden Barrett ruled out due to stand down protocols, Asafo Aumua will start at hooker and Damian McKenzie resumes in the No 10 jersey.

The replacements will play from the bench, with Crusaders young rake George Bell named as the reserve hooker and Stephen Perofeta the utility reserve in the 23 jersey.

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Aside from the elevation of Aumua and McKenzie into the starting side, the XV remains unchanged.

Tamaiti Williams retains his place at loosehead prop with Ethan de Groot’s absence extending another week after being punished for breaking team protocol last week.

Ruben Love and Harry Plummer were expected to join the squad but neither have been named.

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
2
Draws
0
Wins
3
Average Points scored
22
25
First try wins
60%
Home team wins
20%

All Blacks team to face Ireland:

1. Tamaiti Williams
2. Asafo Aumua
3. Tyrel Lomax
4. Scott Barrett (c)
5. Tupou Vaa’i
6. Wallace Sititi
7. Sam Cane
8. Ardie Savea (vc)
9. Cortez Ratima
10. Damian McKenzie
11. Caleb Clarke
12. Jordie Barrett (vc)
13. Rieko Ioane
14. Mark Tele’a
15. Will Jordan

Reserves

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16. George Bell
17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi
18. Pasilio Tosi
19. Patrick Tuipulotu
20. Samipeni Finau
21. Cam Roigard
22. Anton Lienert-Brown
23. Stephen Perofeta

Watch the exclusive reveal-all episode of Walk the Talk with Ardie Savea as he chats to Jim Hamilton about the RWC 2023 experience, life in Japan, playing for the All Blacks and what the future holds. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV

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Comments

44 Comments
M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 14 days ago

You got this, George. Have a mean one.

N
Nickers 14 days ago

Bookmakers are giving this ABs team a 30% chance of success which seems very generous.

T
Toaster 14 days ago

Nice baiting

J
JWH 14 days ago

Arse.

H
Head high tackle 14 days ago

NZ just has nothing to lose here. Not expected to win and weakened severely with taylor and BB out. Just have a go boys......

S
SammyOG 14 days ago

What does he see in Bell? It's a pity Riccitelli is heading off-shore

N
Nickers 13 days ago

He's very unlucky not to be there. For certain players from certain teams it doesn't matter how well you play.

J
JWH 14 days ago

Riccitelli is an old fart.

B
BH 14 days ago

Even Kurt Eklund and Bradley Slater are miles ahead of Bell. The Christchurch bias is real.

B
Bruiser 14 days ago

RWC 27?


1 WILLIAMS

2 SAMASONI

3 LOMAX

4 VAII

5 BARRETT

6 A BIG UNIT FRIZZELL/FINAU/VAII

7 ARDIE

8 WALLACE

9 ROIGARD

10 MOUANGA

11 CLARKE

12 JORDIE

13 REIKS

14 GAS MERCHANT

15 JORDAN

16 AUMOA

17 TOSI

18 EDG

19 FABIAN HOLLAND OR DARRY

20 DALTZ

21 BEUADIE??

22 RILEY HIGGINS

23 CORTIMA

S
SC 14 days ago

Far too premature to predict a lineup 3 years away.

B
B 14 days ago

All Blacks forwards coach Jason Ryan.is looking for continuity and consistency from his starting forward pack and Bell chosen to impact off the bench.


Damian McKenzie for Beauden was a given with Stephen Perofeta's inclusion, both of them able to create opportunities to the backline attack.


Go the All Black...no "DAP's" just play Smarter not Harder .. onwards and upwards...

B
Bruiser 14 days ago

The game plan was right last week, just need to execute better. This selection was a no brainer

U
Utiku Old Boy 14 days ago

Whats up with DeGroot? Must have really annoyed someone. Would have had Roigard starting. Obviously going for consistency but I think there is no real evidence this is the best line-up. Hope "something" clicks and it is a good contest.

M
MakeOllieMathisAnAB 14 days ago

Tamaiti offers more skills wise, Ofa too good last week to leave out. DeGroot will have to take his next chance Big time.

S
SC 14 days ago

DeGroot has always struggled with his fitness levels. He may not be meeting fitness standards since his neck injury.

B
Bruiser 14 days ago

There is very little in it with the front row. The replacements won it for us last week. Why drop one of them to make way for EDG if the guys delivered last week. Sends a message to the team about the culture....EDG let the team down

S
SC 14 days ago

Lots of powerful call carriers in that starting pack and off the bench.


The key to victory is for the All Black backs to not butcher the opportunities when that pack gives them front foot ball through poor ball handling/ passing (J. Barrett & Ioane) or mindless kicking possession away (Ratima & McKenzie).

G
GM 14 days ago

Like your confidence in our pack, SC, but the only area I can see where we have a bit of headroom over their pack would be front row, now that Furlong is out. I reckon the rest of their tight 5 and looses might be chosen ahead of ours in a composite pack, given a neutral observer!

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J
JW 57 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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