{"id":68552,"date":"2025-08-14T21:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T21:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/68552\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T21:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T21:02:09","slug":"finlay-christie-returns-for-all-blacks-against-los-pumas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/68552\/","title":{"rendered":"Finlay Christie returns for All Blacks against Los Pumas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All Blacks<\/a> head coach Scott Robertson<\/a> has opted for as much consistency as injuries allow in his selected team for the opening round of the Rugby Championship<\/a> in C\u00f3rdoba, Argentina.<\/p>\n

It will be the 40th contest between the All Blacks and Los Pumas, with all of the results registered on Argentine soil going the Kiwis\u2019 way to date.<\/p>\n

However, recent history outside Latin America has been less favourable for New Zealand, with the Pumas<\/a> developing into a side now regarded as a \u2018powerhouse of world rugby\u2019 within the All Blacks camp.<\/p>\n

And so, Robertson has looked to his heavy-hitters to start their Rugby Championship campaign on a high note.<\/p>\n

Led by returning captain Scott Barrett<\/a>, who missed the final of the July series Tests against France<\/a> with a calf injury, the team will head into the Cauldron of C\u00f3rdoba, which has not seen All Blacks rugby since 1976.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a great week of training in Buenos Aires, and the group is ready to go out and perform,\u201d coach Robertson said. \u201cScott and our leaders have led from the front, and there\u2019s a lot of focus and motivation in the group for the start of the campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the Pumas identity is a fast and physical game, and we\u2019ve selected a team that will embrace the occasion. It\u2019s been 30 years since the All Blacks played in C\u00f3rdoba, and we are looking forward to the passion and energy of the home crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Head-to-Head <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Last 5 Meetings<\/p>\n

Average Points scored<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New Zealand team to play Argentina\u00a0<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0Ethan de Groot (32)<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Codie Taylor<\/a> (98)<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0Fletcher Newell (25)<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0Scott Barrett (81) (Captain)<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Fabian Holland<\/a> (3)<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0\u00a0Tupou Vaa\u2019i (40)<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0\u00a0 Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi (3)<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0\u00a0Ardie Savea (97) (Vice-Captain)<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0\u00a0Cortez Ratima (14) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0Beauden Barrett (136)<\/p>\n

11.\u00a0Rieko Ioane (83)<\/p>\n

12.\u00a0Jordie Barrett (71) (Vice-Captain)<\/p>\n

13.\u00a0Billy Proctor (4)<\/p>\n

14.\u00a0Sevu Reece (34)<\/p>\n

15.\u00a0Will Jordan (44)<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/p>\n

16.\u00a0Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho (33)<\/p>\n

17.\u00a0\u00a0Ollie Norris (2)<\/p>\n

18. Pasilio Tosi (9)<\/p>\n

19.\u00a0Patrick Tuipulotu (53)<\/p>\n

20.\u00a0Samipeni Finau (11)<\/p>\n

21.\u00a0 Finlay Christie<\/a> (23)<\/p>\n

22.\u00a0Anton Lienert-Brown (85)<\/p>\n

23.\u00a0Damian McKenzie (64)<\/p>\n

Unavailable for selection: Tamaiti Williams (knee); Wallace Sititi<\/a> (ankle)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has opted for as much consistency as injuries allow in his selected…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68553,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-68552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68552"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68552\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}