Source: Radio New Zealand
Wales v All Blacks
Kick-off: 4:10am Sunday 23 November
Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Live blog updates on RNZ
Scott Robertson has said that the All Blacks have had a “strong review” this week after their 33-19 loss to England on Sunday morning. Their attention now turns to Wales in Cardiff, with Robertson making 13 changes to his starting lineup for the last test of the year.
“We’re playing for the black jersey, it’s all legacy and it’s really important to us. We talk a lot around serving our people off the field and serving the jersey on,” he said.
Captain Scott Robertson and Simon Parker are the only two players to retain their spots from last weekend, with this test always seen as a way to use the rest of the 33-man squad taken away on tour.
“That’s the balance of it, isn’t it? You’re giving guys opportunities and setting them up to perform and the ones that have been given it have been training extremely hard and been really focused,” said Robertson.
“It’s great to play the whole squad and everyone have a crack at it. So is a good sprinkle, sprinkle of experience and some great youth and young players coming through.”
Robertson said that Rieko Ioane had done “everything he can” to get selected to start at centre. It’s been a frustrating test season for the 28-year-old, who looked to have secured the role last year, only to end up being moved down the depth chart after July’s series against France.
Scott Robertson and Rieko Ioane. Daniel Carson/Photosport NZ
“You constantly check in on your players and you have little conversations just to make sure that you’re consistently giving them feedback,” said Robertson.
“There’s a technical side, but there’s also the human side to just make sure that stay ready. They’re going to get a crack, and this is his one…we’re excited for him, he’s been a really good pro off the field.”
For all the changes, this doesn’t exactly feel like much of a development for the future. Anton Lienert-Brown and Ioane have played over 170 tests between them and while they’ve only started a couple of test together in the midfield, it’s unlikely that they’re some sort of long term plan.
In fact, the only player who can be seen as even approaching an unknown quantity is Christian Lio-Willie, and even then, he’s played three tests already and is in as injury cover. Even for the players that haven’t had a run yet on tour, only George Bell hasn’t already started a test, with the biggest talking point of Ruben Love at fullback already having been seen this year.
This is instead very much looking like a culmination of a long season with a high attrition rate more than anything else – which is actually pretty understandable. Almost a dozen players are currently injured or unavailable, including some names that could have made a real difference on this tour like Tupou Vaa’i and Jordie Barrett.
However, naming a team that still has 719 caps worth of experience also means that the expectation will now be firmly on them to win well, rather than just stagger to the finish line and rest up over the summer.
Team lists
Wales: 1. Rhys Carre, 2. Dewi Lake, 3. Keiron Assiratti, 4. Dafydd Jenkins, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Alex Mann, 7. Harri Deaves, 8. Aaron Wainwright, 9. Tomos Williams, 10. Dan Edwards, 11. Tom Rogers, 12. Joe Hawkins, 13. Max Llewellyn, 14. Louis Rees-Zammit, 15. Blair Murray
Bench: 16. Brodie Coghlan, 17. Gareth Thomas, 18. Archie Griffin, 19. Freddie Thomas, 20. Taine Plumtree, 21. Kieran Hardy, 22. Jarrod Evans, 23. Nick Tompkins
All Blacks: 1. Tamaiti Williams, 2. Samisoni Taukei’aho, 3. Pasilio Tosi, 4. Scott Barrett, 5. Fabian Holland, 6. Simon Parker, 7. Du’Plessis Kirifi, 8. Wallace Sititi, 9. Cortez Ratima, 10. Damian McKenzie, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Anton Lienert-Brown, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Will Jordan, 15. Ruben Love
Bench: 16. George Bell, 17. Fletcher Newell, 18. George Bower, 19. Josh Lord, 20. Christian Lio-Willie, 21. Finlay Christie, 22. Leicester Fainga’anuku, 23. Sevu Reece
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
