Julian Savea
Wing Julian Savea returns to the New Zealand side for Saturday’s second test against England in Dunedin after fullback Israel Dagg was ruled out through injury.
Savea, who has scored 19 tries in 20 matches for the world champion All Blacks, missed the 20-15 first test victory with a knee complaint, but should add extra firepower to the backline after a sluggish performance in Auckland.
Ben Smith moves to fullback from the wing in Dagg’s absence.
No 8 Jerome Kaino, who returned to the national side last week after a stint in Japan, will play his 50th test, while Kieran Read remains sidelined after suffering concussion.
“We are expecting another big contest this weekend and with England sure to make improvements in their game, we will have to improve massively ourselves,” coach Steve Hansen said in a statement.
“We have worked hard on our skillsets, attitude and the detail in our game, which wasn’t up to All Blacks standard last week.”
“Our mindset this week has been all about improvement, taking ownership and responsibility for our individual roles with the aim of delivering a team performance we can all be proud of.”
Despite a rusty first-up performance in the first test, which required a 78th minute try to Conrad Smith to seal the result, New Zealand can secure the three-match series with victory under the covered-roof in Dunedin.
New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Richie McCaw (Captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Victor Vito, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Malakai Fekitoa.
1 Change Plus a positional switch… in the starting lineup.
… and to all accounts a change making the All Blacks stronger.
Same forwards though, who did not manage to secure enough territory or possession.
Will be interesting to see who England select!
“We have worked hard on our skillsets, attitude and the detail in our game, which wasn’t up to All Blacks standard last week.”
This is too me the difference between the AB,s and the rest.
skillsets, attitude and detail
They might not be the strongest
they might not claim to be the hardest
but they have by far the most complete skills
@ superBul:
Yes and they are superbly conditioned to go for the full 80, IF they get the skillset right on Saturday the English won’t be able to hold them out.
@ NZINCHINA:
You must know i only like the AB,s because they are the benchmark of superb sports management.
If we can reach that and rule the world , i hope you will be gracious enough to admire my team. I have this feeling we can. We from our side must just keep the pressure up on our Management and demand this.
No Thank you it looks nice until we confidently goes into a AB game with the AB,s being the under dog. Total domination , a win streak like the AB,s pile up against us. And believe me that is posible.
Would love too see the NZ reaction to that.
The English should be more worried about Dirty Peyper on the whistle.
We know he fancies the team playing in black strip, although this game is a long way from his home town of Durban, old habits die hard
That is a great backline.
The ABs wont be caught napping this weekend. The forwards will front up and I reckon England could be in for a drilling. Should be a great game though. Almost looking more forward to this game than the Bok game.
Eina!
@ superBul:
Obviously it wouldn’t go down that well but we would have to respect what you had achieved, I doubt our current streak will ever be bettered though, one loss in 35 odd tests will be nearly impossible to emulate going forward. Two more wins and we equal the great record set by the AB team of the 60’s.
Incidently the Bokke have won 3 times in 20 tests in NZ since readmission that’s how hard it is to win in NZ yet all the Pommy scribes are picking an English win this weekend.
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