{"id":792823,"date":"2026-07-11T04:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T04:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792823\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T04:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T04:43:15","slug":"all-blacks-v-italy-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792823\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks v Italy: What you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"

The All Blacks are back in Wellington today for a Nations Championship clash against Italy, with kick-off set for 5.10pm at the Cake Tin.<\/p>\n

It’s the second Test of Dave Rennie’s tenure as head coach, and the hosts will be looking to build on last weekend’s 34-32 win over France in Christchurch<\/a> \u2013 Rennie’s first Test in charge.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks have never lost to Italy, and go into Saturday chasing an 18th consecutive win over the Azzurri.<\/p>\n

“This is a strong side to reflect the respect we have for this Italian team,” Rennie said. <\/p>\n

“They have shown through the Six Nations competition that they are capable of knocking over any team, so we have prepared for a tough challenge and look forward to facing it in front of a sold-out Wellington crowd.”<\/p>\n

1News has live updates on the Test here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Beauden Barrett, one of the most experienced players in world rugby with 144 Tests to his name, has been left out<\/a> for a second straight week. Ruben Love continues at first-five, with Damian McKenzie retained at fullback.<\/p>\n

Defence will also be under scrutiny<\/a>. The All Blacks conceded 32 points and four tries against France, along with three first-half high-tackle penalties \u2013 one of which saw Love yellow-carded inside two minutes.<\/p>\n

Saturday’s Test is round two of the inaugural Nations Championship. The All Blacks play Ireland at Eden Park a week later, before departing for a four-Test tour of South Africa next month.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Cake Tin on Wellington’s waterfront. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

Travel and match-day info<\/p>\n

Wellington is forecast mostly cloudy with a top of around 8C and a 20% chance of rain, so fans should dress for a cold night at Hnry Stadium.<\/p>\n

Metlink is running extra capacity on the Hutt Valley, Kapiti and Johnsonville train lines before kick-off, with extra services again once the Test finishes. The Wairarapa Line’s 6.55pm service has been pushed back to 7.20pm to give fans time to get to the station after the match.<\/p>\n

Buses will also run extra capacity after the game, and the harbour ferry \u2013 on a weekend timetable \u2013 has an extra sailing scheduled from Queens Wharf at about 7.30pm, though bookings are required via the East by West website.<\/p>\n

Match tickets double as a Metlink pass on the day, valid on buses and trains to and from the Test \u2013 just not on Airport Express buses, harbour ferry services or Total Mobility taxis. Full fares and timetables are on the Metlink app or website.<\/p>\n

Team lists<\/p>\n

All Blacks<\/p>\n

1. Ethan de Groot (41), 2. Codie Taylor (107), 3. Tyrel Lomax (49), 4. Sam Darry (9), 5. Tupou Vaa\u2019i (45), 6. Wallace Sititi (20), 7. Luke Jacobson (25), 8. Ardie Savea (107), (Captain), 9. Cam Roigard (18), 10.\u202fRuben Love (6), 11.\u202fLeroy Carter (6), 12. Jordie Barrett (79), 13. Billy Proctor (12), 14.\u202fWill Jordan (55),15.\u202fDamian McKenzie (75).<\/p>\n

Reserves: 16. Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho (43), 17. George Bower (25), 18. Pasilio Tosi (16), 19.\u202fJosh Lord (13), 20. Anton Segner 21.\u202fCortez Ratima (22), 22. Anton Lienert-Brown (88), 23.\u202fJosh Moorby *<\/p>\n

Italy<\/p>\n

1. Danilo Fischetti (64), 2. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo (11), 3. Marco Riccioni (37), 4. Niccol\u00f2 Cannone (64), 5. Andrea Zambonin (19), 6. Ross Vintcent (20), 7. Michele Lamaro (captain, 55), 8. Lorenzo Cannone (39), 9. Stephen Varney (38), 10. Paolo Garbisi (55), 11. Louis Lynagh (14), 12. Tommaso Menoncello (40), 13. Juan Ignacio Brex (53), 14. Malik Faissal (1), 15. Tommaso Allan (90).<\/p>\n

Reserves: 16. Gianmarco Lucchesi (34), 17. Mirco Spagnolo (25), 18. Muhamed Hasa (9), 19. Giulio Marini*, 20. Federico Ruzza (72), 21. Riccardo Favretto (14), 22. Alessandro Garbisi (23), 23. Leonardo Marin (23).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The All Blacks are back in Wellington today for a Nations Championship clash against Italy, with kick-off set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[10751,64,63,760,85,98898,25904],"class_list":["post-792823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-all-blacks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk-europe","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792823","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=792823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}