The Maori All Blacks team to play Fiji in Suva on Saturday features 2 sets of brothers in the starting 15 and 9 new caps in total.
Charlie Ngatai will captain the side, fresh from his All Blacks debut against Samoa on Wednesday.
The new caps include the Ioane brothers, Akira and Rieko, and Tawera Kerr-Barlow who is returning from a long injury enforced break. Chiefs back Damian McKenzie will also make his debut at fullback alongside his brother Marty, making for a rare occasion where 2 sets of brothers (4 brothers) in the Maori All Blacks jersey.
There are also 6 players from the Hurricanes and Highlanders who appeared in Saturday’s Super Rugby Final.
Head coach Colin Cooper said the short assembly time had been challenging for the squad, but he was pleased with how quickly the players had gelled as a unit.
“This squad has developed a great spirit very quickly and even though we had a long journey to Suva, we’re in good shape. We’re really looking forward to training today and adapting to the hotter conditions here.
“We have a good mix in the team to take on Fiji. There are players who have come out of the Super Rugby finals series in great nick and those who have had a bit more of a layoff so I think that will work well for us. It’s great that we are also able to field some of the exciting, young players we’ve brought into this team and I know Saturday will be a very proud day for them.
“We’re certainly fit and raring to go against what we see is a very strong Fijian team so we’ll need to be at our best to honour our record against international teams.”
Maori All Blacks: 15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Rieko Ioane, 13 Matt Proctor, 12 Charlie Ngatai, 11 Kurt Baker, 10 Marty McKenzie, 9 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 8 Blade Thomson, 7 Mitchell Crosswell, 6 Akira Ioane, 5 Hayden Triggs, 4 Jacob Skeen, 3 Ben May, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Joe Moody
Replacements: 16 Quentin MacDonald, 17 Brendon Edmonds, 18 Josh Hohneck, 19 Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, 20 Elliot Dixon, 21 Jamison Gibson-Park, 22 Otere Black, 23 Jason Emery.
Date: Saturday 11 July
Venue: National Stadium, Suva
Kick-Off: 05: SA Time (15:00 Fiji Time, 15:00 NZ Time, 03:00 GMT)
Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Jaco Peyper (South Africa), Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
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