The All Blacks team to play the Argentinian Pumas in The Rugby Championship-opening match has been named, with exciting winger Waisake Naholo to make his Test debut.
Another new All Black, hooker Codie Taylor, is named on the reserves bench for the clash at AMI Stadium in Christchurch.
24-Year-old Naholo comes in for George Moala in 1 of 6 changes from the match-day 23 that played Samoa last week.
In the forwards, lock Brodie Retallick is back in the starting 15, replacing Samuel Whitelock, with Jeremy Thrush coming in as lock reserve; TJ Perenara is at scrumhalf, with Andy Ellis, who played his 250th 1st-class match last week, moving to the bench; while Ma’a Nonu has been named at centre in his 95th Test, and Ryan Crotty moving to the bench. Taylor replaces Hikawera Elliot as reserve hooker and the only other change in the reserves sees loose forward Liam Messam come in for Matt Todd.
It’s another hugely experienced All Blacks team for the Rugby Championship opener, with prop Tony Woodcock to make his 100th Test start in his outstanding career. The match-day 23 boasts 1068 caps worth of experience and an average age of 28 years.
All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said, “We are very much looking forward to our Friday night Test against an improving Argentinian team. There has been a lot of talk about the Rugby World Cup and so forth, but this Test match is all about the here and now.
“It’s important that we get away to a really good start in The Rugby Championship as we will only be playing each other once this year and we only have this one home game. We will need to get points early if we are going to give ourselves a chance of winning the Championship.
“We have a lot of respect for Argentina and what they bring and understand that we will have to improve our game quite considerably from our Samoan effort.
“With that in mind, the selectors did not want to make too many changes. It’s a fine balancing act between getting game time for those who need it, giving others the rest they may need, and giving ourselves an opportunity to see players and combinations in the heat of the Test battle so we can make good selections going forward.
“We know the Argentinians will be big and fast and bring a physicality to the contest. But we are also expecting them to bring some panache through their backs as we have detected a greater desire from them to involve their whole team in their game.
“It will be a special occasion for all the Christchurch men in the group playing in front of their home crowd and I know they are all looking to put in a big performance.”
Meanwhile, All Blacks scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow and prop Joe Moody have again been released to play for the Maori All Blacks and Cory Jane for the New Zealand Barbarians in the match between the 2 sides in Auckland on Saturday.
The All Blacks and Argentina have played each other 20 times with the All Blacks winning the last Test 34 / 13 in La Plata, Argentina, in last year’s Rugby Championship.
All Blacks: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Ma’a Nonu, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Dan Carter, 9 TJ Perenara, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (Captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Brodie Retallick, 4 Luke Romano, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Jeremy Thrush, 20 Liam Messam, 21 Andy Ellis, 22 Colin Slade, 23 Ryan Crotty.
Date: Friday 17 July
Venue: AMI Stadium, Christchurch
Kick-Off: 09:35 SA Time (19:35 NZ Time, 17:35 AEST, 04:35 ARG Time, 07:35 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant Referees: Angus Gardner (Australia), Stuart Berry (South Africa)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)