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McKenzie benched as All Blacks name team to play the Wallabies
By Ben Smith
All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson and his staff have named his team to play the Wallabies in the second Bledisloe Test at Sky Stadium in Wellington.
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The headline change is Beauden Barrett returning to the line up to start at first five-eighth after missing last week’s Test with illness.
McKenzie has been moved to the bench in the No 22 jersey, alongside utility David Havili who has been named for his first All Blacks appearance of 2024 in the No 23 jersey.
Barrett will partner long-time teammate TJ Perenara, who moves back into the starting side with Cortez Ratima swapping roles.
It will be Perenara’s last home Test as an All Black having confirmed a move to Japan in 2025.
In the midfield Anton Lienert-Brown has been named alongside Rieko Ioane to replace the injured Jordie Barrett at second-five eighth.
Also returning to the All Blacks is Blues lock Patrick Tuipulotu, who has been named as the reserve lock replacing Sam Darry.
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The starting forward pack otherwise remains unchanged, with the same 8 as in Sydney, with openside Sam Cane set to play his 100th for the All Blacks and become the 13th player to reach the milestone for the team.
Robertson explained the changes and expressed excitement for TJ Perenara and Sam Cane.
“This will be a particularly special night for Sam and TJ and the boys will put in a performance that honours their contribution to this team. Sam will be joining an exclusive club of All Black centurions, which is testament to his fortitude and work ethic,” Robertson said.
“As a Wellington man and the most-capped Hurricane of all time, we know that TJ is a crowd favourite in the capital and we look forward to him expressing himself on the field in front of friends and whanau at home.”
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“Damian McKenzie can provide experienced cover at both first-five and fullback, as Beauden has previously, and it is great to bring David Havili in to complete the 23, providing strong depth across the back line.
“We are excited about the opportunity this week to put in a complete performance against the Wallabies in Wellington.”
All Blacks team to play the Wallabies in Wellington:
1. Ethan de Groot
2. Codie Taylor
3. Tyrel Lomax
4. Scott Barrett (c)
5. Tupou Vaa’i
6. Wallace Sititi
7. Sam Cane
8. Ardie Savea
9. TJ Perenara
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Caleb Clarke
12. Anton Lienert-Brown
13. Rieko Ioane
14. Sevu Reece
15. Will Jordan
Reserves
16. Asafo Aumua
17. Tamaiti Williams
18. Pasilio Tosi
19. Patrick Tuipulotu
20. Luke Jacobson
21. Cortez Ratima
22. Damian McKenzie
23. David Havili
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well razor beleives that because both barrett and tj played together a fewyears ago and thehurricanes have a good record at home it might help us win
I greatly respect Damian McKenzie with his courageous jinking runs and his wonderful conversions plus everything else about him (I'm from Canterbury via Otago). I can see many great reasons for him to come off the bench in this next game and I bet he is absolutely ok with it. I would not however presume to put these reasons forward as I am well aware of my low level of understanding and expertise compared to the many of those accomplished people whose responsibility it is to make these decisions. I applaud them all, players, coaches and support staff who pour them selves into providing these spectacles that I cannot resist watching. I'm retired but some of you need to get a job.
We also learn that Ethan Blackadder was available. He was outstanding against South Africa. He should be starting , a long with Sititi and Savea. Cane should not be starting and TJ not there at all. Ratima starting with Noah Hotham on the bench, both brilliant young halfbacks. George Bell , playing so well, off the bench backing Codie Taylor. The northern tour looms like a dark shadow.
I'm just not convinced about these players playing together as a team.
Sam Cane leaving for Japan
Tj Perenara leaving for Japan.
Beauden Barrett is 33.
There's talk about Richie & Brodie coming back next year.
Richie wil be 33 at the next world cup. Barrett won't be there.
Brodie will be 36.
There is all this talk about Tupou Vaa'i. That's the thing. Just talk. I'm not seeing anything special.
David Havili looks good when players around him are in form & they're not.
The Wallabies won't beat the All Blacks on the weekend. The All Blacks on the other hand NEED to put this wallaby team away properly this weekend to build confidence for the end of year tour because that has the potential to be catastrophic.
Nobody is talking about Retallick coming back seriously. Richie Mounga currently sounds like a better option than DMac at this point, DMac cannot get his team to score in the last 20. Tupou Vaai is excellent, tell me you don't know rugby without saying it. Currently better than almost every international lock, including Etzebeth. Havili is only there as cover, nobody else can cover as many positions as he can (12,13,10,15).
Every week a team is announced, and every week the case for Razor getting axed gets stronger.
Win or lose this game the selection process has been amateur and desperate. It's just reactive like a cricket captain constantly moving fielders to where the ball has just been hit instead of where you want the ball to go. This coaching team are chasing their tail, always trying to select a team to win last week's match.
They are one step behind every coach they have played this year and it shows in their round about selection policies. Surely anyone selected for the team needs to be good enough to close out a game.
A reporter said to Robertson in a throw away comment that the ABs have not scored in the last 20 minutes in 3 out of the last 4 games which he hadn't realised and said "I'll look into it" Now it seems he is building his whole selection policy around this but making the problem worse. Since it was mentioned, and Robertson started talking about it in press conferences they ABs points differentials have been -7, -14, -5, and -14 in the last 20 minutes. In those games their percentage of possession in the last 10 mins has been 44%, 33%, 35%, 19%. Everything they are doing selection wise is having the opposite effect.
The NH tour which starts in 6 weeks will be a fork in the road for this team. We will find rock bottom there as we did in 2021.
He is just doing this for the oldies last run. Giving them a good send off. Next year I expect him to make some radical changes. If he doesn't, his job should be threatened. Paying for contracts which don't matter as put a real strain on NZR, and he cannot keep selecting guys who won't play the next RWC
This really does seem like an odd, patched together team. Selection has been erratic so far under Razor.
We need a new captain, Barrett is too quiet, doesn’t ask questions of the officials and his performance seems stunted by the pressure. This team needs an overhaul if we are planning for the next World Cup, a lot of these guys won’t be here next year let alone in ‘27.
The choice of the three onfield leaders seems poorly thought out. The narrow base of coaches (all Crusaders) has so little variety.
Scott's performance is not being stunted by the captaincy, but by the fact that he was out injured for the majority of the Super Rugby season. I'm sure he'll be better next year, given he stops injuring his fingers during club and international seasons.
This will be awesome! Excited for TJ to nail his last game, at home. And if not Ratima can just come on!
We are getting a face off between eras!! Old vs new, tried and failed v exciting and uncertain, stuttery v sublime (or not). I think they're playing Beauden, and his old side kicks either side no less, to prove to themselves that they have found the answer in Ratima and Dmac, and Jordie. It shows Razor doesn't yet have the confidence in his coaching ability, but it will be fun to see this play out!
Are we though? It's more likely they're going with proven combinations for this farewell, given Ardie, TJ, Beauden all used to play Super Rugby together for the Hurricanes. The same can be said for the bench, given Ratima and McKenzie play together for the Chiefs.
That's a pretty ordinary team; thought we had moved from BB at 10 since he did not work since 2021. And who is kicking? (DMac is at 85% in rugby championship)
And TJ, maybe 45 mins?
Maybe this is all Wellington deserves..will be a tough eve
I swear alot of armchair critics don't understand how combinations work
And the current coaches do?
So explain it to us. We have a Canes 9 with a Blues 10 and a Chiefs 12. But on the bench we have a Chiefs 9 and 10 with a Crusaders 12. Is that combinations?
Havilli??? Hes got nothing to offer. Would have ben great opportunity to see another young prospect like Proctor or Love..we have seen Haviili isnt up to it at test level. Is Dalton not good enough now for the bench??
Havili offers the ability to cover both inside and outside centre, something the ABs desperately need at the moment given their usual 12/13 cover is now the starting 12. Unfortunately, Proctor is a specialist 13, and wouldn't be able to replace ALB if he goes down injured.
Ruben Love is out due to injuring his quadriceps whilst playing in the NPC, which is a shame given Razor sounded ready to field him.
Hopefully, Havili was picked as it will be his farewell test. That said, I can possibly see why TJ & Cane would get a farewell test, but Havilli?
Ruben Love is injured
Well that will do wonders for the little fellas confidence!
Clearly they expect another tight game against their tier 2 opposition.
Or McKenzie comes on late and they finally score in the last 20 mins?
At test level, especially a tight knockout game against a top team, McKenzie is probably best a super sub as a replacement for: 15/10/14 or even as a hard running playmaking 9.
As a replacement 9 he could've had a scarily good combination with Mo'unga. With Savea at 8 (with Sititi backing up), Clarke as the inside option, B Barrett at in at 15, or Jordan on the outside, who would the defense focus on? From a midfield scrum 10-15 meters out, it would almost be impossible to defend against.
Dmacs a good bench option against tired opposition. I reckon they should just leave him at 10 in my opinion. His execution was off last week- but only when it was off. He was also responsible for the good stuff too.
Razors retarded selections continues. Time we got Foster back. This bloke is just plain weird.
So it's BB kicking for goal? Has he done that in living memory 😂?
This year in Japan.
My mind is blank about that one, intentionally!
TJ? 😂
Yeah it gets stranger and stranger. NZ won last week because Dmac made so many line breaks we scored 4 tries and then he converted all 4 plus the winning 3 pointer. Do we believe BB will do that?