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Five All Blacks released by Foster ahead of Bledisloe series

Finlay Christie and Cam Roigard of the All Blacks run through drills during a New Zealand All Blacks training session at Mt Smart Stadium on June 30, 2023 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Five players have been released from Ian Foster’s All Blacks squad back to their provincial rugby teams in order to secure more game time in NPC pre-season action this weekend according to a report by Stuff.co.nz.

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Suspended All Black centre Anton Lienert-Brown, flankers Luke Jacobson and Samipeni Finau have been sent back to Waiktao while Josh Lord, who started against Argentina in Mendoza, has been released back to Taranaki.

The fifth returnee is uncapped halfback Cam Roigard, who will feature for Counties Manukau after being surplus to playing requirements over the first two rounds of The Rugby Championship.

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Of the five, only Josh Lord has seen any game action for the All Blacks so far this year with Finau and Roigard patiently waiting for a chance to push for their first caps.

The five players will play in the  Chiefs Country Centurion Cup competition, which will see four teams compete in a quadrangular style play-off with Waikato playing Counties Manukau and Bay of Plenty facing Taranaki in two 50-minute games.

The winners will then face off in a final while the two losing teams will play for third place in another fixture.

The players will return to All Blacks camp on Sunday for Bledisloe preparations before heading to Melbourne on Thursday.

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spady 518 days ago

Luke Jackobson deserved a run in the bledisloe games, because he is the best cover currently for 6 and 8 if scott barret is to be more available during Sam's recovery

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Tom 4 hours ago
Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?

Also a Bristol fan and echo your sentiments.


I love watching Bristol but their approach will only get them so far I think. Exeter played like this when they first got promoted to the prem and had intermittent success, it wasn't until they wised up and played a more balanced game that they became a consistently top side.


I really want Bristol to continue playing this brand of rugby and I don't mind them running it from under their posts but I don't think they need to do it every single time. They need to be just a little bit more selective about when and where on the pitch they play. Every game they put themselves under so much needless pressure by turning the ball over under their posts trying to do kamikaze moves when it's not required. By all means run it from your goal line if there is a chance for a counter attack, we all want to see Bristol running in 100m tries from under their posts but I think until they learn when to do it and when to be pragmatic, they are unlikely to win the premiership.


Defense has been a real positive from Bristol, they've shown a lot of improvement there... And I will say that I think this kamikaze strategy they employ is a very good one for a struggling side and could be employed by Newcastle. It's seems to have turned around Gloucester's fortunes. The big advantage is even if you don't have the biggest and best players, what you have is cohesion. This is why Scotland keep battering England. England have better individuals but they look muddled as a team, trying to play a mixed strategy under coaches who lack charisma, the team has no identity. Scotland come out and give it full throttle from 1-15 even if they struggle against the top sides, sides like England and Wales who lack that identity drown under the relentless will and synergy of the Scots. If Newcastle did the same they could really surprise some people, I know the weather is bad up there but it hasn't bothered the Scots. Bristol can learn from Scotland too, Pat is on to something when he says the following but Scotland don't play test matches like headless chickens. They still play with the same level of clarity and ambition Bristol do but they are much better at picking their moments. They needed to go back to this mad game to get their cohesion back after a couple of seasons struggling but I hope they get a bit wiser from matches like Leinster and La Rochelle.


“If there’s clarity on what you’re trying to do as a team you can win anything.”

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