Ardie Savea has been named All Blacks Captain for 2026 and will lead a 34-strong squad in the Nations Championship Southern Series.<\/p>\n
All Blacks Head Coach Dave Rennie has revealed his first squad at Feilding Yellows Rugby Club today alongside his fellow selectors, Sir Graham Henry, and Senior Assistant Coach Neil Barnes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The squad, which includes four debutants, will kick off its season against France in Christchurch on 4 July, followed by Tests against Italy in Wellington and Ireland in Auckland.<\/p>\n
Rennie said his first squad as All Blacks Head Coach reflects the style of rugby he and his coaching team are wanting the All Blacks to play.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are rapt with this squad \u2013 players with the ability to bar up to the demands of test footy but also play with optimism and brutality. We look forward to connecting on Wednesday in preparation for three big tests against France, Italy and Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpecial congratulations must go to our four uncapped players. These men have each had an outstanding Super Rugby season and fully deserve their place in the squad. It will be a massively proud time for their families, friends and team mates.<\/p>\n
\u201cCongratulations also to our new All Blacks Captain, Ardie Savea, who we know will do an outstanding job of leading this team on and off-field. Ardie is highly respected by his team mates and cares deeply about the black jersey,\u201d Rennie said.<\/p>\n
Savea said it was a huge honour to be the All Blacks Captain and he would be drawing on the leadership from those around him and those who have come before him to inspire and ground him.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo serve this team, its people and its fans is one of the greatest honours in sport,\u201d said Savea. \u201cI believe this role is about empowering everyone in the group to be the best that they can be – from the leadership, to the players and wider staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cA united All Blacks team has the power to unite a nation. And we are going to need all five million Kiwis to get in behind us as we walk towards the challenges that are waiting for us over the next 16 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay tribute to those who have gone before us while also acknowledging that the responsibility of writing the next chapter in the All Blacks story lies with us. Let\u2019s get to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cA special thank you to my wife Saskia and our three children Kobe, Keeon and Kove. The same to our parents, our extended family and friends. We are blessed to have a \u2018village\u2019 that walks alongside us,\u201d Savea added.<\/p>\n
The All Blacks squad will assemble for the first time in Auckland from Wednesday this week, before travelling to Christchurch at the end of the week for the first Test of the Nations Championship.<\/p>\n
The 34-man New Zealand squad:
\n\t(age, Super Rugby Club, province, Test caps)<\/p>\n
Hookers<\/p>\n
Asafo Aumua (29 \/ Hurricanes \/ Wellington \/ 20)
\n\tCodie Taylor (35 \/ Crusaders \/ Canterbury \/106)
\n\tSamisoni Taukei\u2019aho ( 28 \/ Chiefs \/ Waikato \/ 43)<\/p>\n
Props<\/p>\n
Ethan De Groot (27 \/ Highlanders \/ Southland \/ 40)
\n\tGeorge Bower (34 \/ Crusaders \/ Otago \/ 25)
\n\tXavier Numia * (27 \/ Hurricanes \/ Wellington \/ 0)
\n\tTyrel Lomax (30 \/ Hurricanes \/ Tasman \/ 48)
\n\tFletcher Newell (26 \/ Crusaders \/ Canterbury \/ 35)
\n\tPasilio Tosi (27 \/ Hurricanes \/ Bay of Plenty \/ 16)<\/p>\n
Locks<\/p>\n
Tupou Vaa\u2019i (26 \/ Chiefs \/ Taranaki \/ 45)
\n\tPatrick Tuipulotu (33 \/ Blues \/ Auckland \/ 56)
\n\tJosh Lord (25 \/ Chiefs \/ Taranaki \/ 12)
\n\tSam Darry (25 \/ Blues \/ Canterbury \/ 8)<\/p>\n
Loose Forwards<\/p>\n
Peter Lakai (23 \/ Hurricanes \/ Wellington \/ 8)
\n\tSimon Parker (26 \/ Chiefs \/ Northland \/ 8)
\n\tArdie Savea (32 \/ Moana Pasifika \/ Wellington \/ 106) (Captain)
\n\tWallace Sititi (23 \/ Chiefs \/ North Harbour \/ 19)
\n\tLuke Jacobson (29 \/ Chiefs \/ Waikato \/ 24)
\n\tAnton Segner * (24 \/ Blues \/ Auckland \/ 0)<\/p>\n
Halfbacks<\/p>\n
Cameron Roigard (25 \/ Hurricanes \/ Counties Manukau \/ 17)
\n\tCortez Ratima (25 \/ Chiefs \/ Waikato \/ 21)
\n\tKyle Preston (26 \/ Crusaders \/ Wellington \/ 1)<\/p>\n
First Five-Eighths<\/p>\n
Ruben Love (25 \/ Hurricanes \/ Wellington \/ 5)
\n\tBeauden Barrett (35 \/ Blues \/ Taranaki \/ 144)
\n\tDamian McKenzie (31 \/ Chiefs \/ Waikato \/ 74)<\/p>\n
Midfielders<\/p>\n
Jordie Barrett (29 \/ Hurricanes \/ Taranaki \/ 78)
\n\tQuinn Tupaea (27 \/ Chiefs \/ Waikato \/ 24)
\n\tBilly Proctor (27 \/ Hurricanes \/ Wellington \/ 11)
\n\tAnton Lienert-Brown (31 \/ Chiefs \/ Waikato \/ 88)<\/p>\n
Outside Backs<\/p>\n
Caleb Clarke (27 \/ Blues \/ Auckland \/ 33)
\n\tFehi Fineanganofo * (23 \/ Hurricanes \/ Bay of Plenty \/ 0)
\n\tLeroy Carter (27 \/ Chiefs \/ Bay of Plenty \/ 6)
\n\tJosh Moorby * (27 \/ Hurricanes \/ Waikato \/ 0)
\n\tWill Jordan (28 \/ Crusaders \/ Tasman \/ 54)
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
Injury cover: Jamie Hannah * (23 \/ Crusaders \/ Canterbury \/ 0) will join the squad as temporary injury cover for Tupou Vaa\u2019i until he is cleared to return to play following concussion protocols.<\/p>\n
Unavailable due to injury: Tamaiti Williams; Scott Barrett; Fabian Holland; Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku.<\/p>\n
Nations Championship Southern Series Fixtures:<\/p>\n
Saturday, 4 July 2026: All Blacks vs. France, 7:05pm, One New Zealand Stadium, Christchurch.
\n\tFriday, 10 July 2026: All Blacks vs. Italy, 5:05pm, Sky Stadium, Wellington.
\n\tSaturday, 18 July 2026: All Blacks vs. Ireland, 7:10pm, Eden Park, Auckland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ardie Savea has been named All Blacks Captain for 2026 and will lead a 34-strong squad in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-751908","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\/751908","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=751908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}