![\"Waikato](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2a9e9c_a5a6dab195544092bc90a7a824ce922c~mv2.jpg\")
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Waikato will have four All Blacks returning to defend the Ranfurly Shield against Southland PHOTO: LINTOTT PHOTOGRAPHY<\/p>\n
Sixteen members of the All Blacks Rugby Championship squad will represent their Provincial Unions in the Bunnings Warehouse National Provincial Championship this weekend. <\/p>\n
Round 5 kicks off on Friday night when North Harbour host Bay of Plenty, who will be bolstered by the return of backs Emoni Narawa and Leroy Carter as well as prop Tevita Mafileo. <\/p>\n
On Saturday afternoon, hooker Brodie McAlister will be available for the unbeaten Canterbury when they host Manawat\u016b, while Josh Lord pulls on the Taranaki strip to face Counties Manukau in Pukekohe. Tasman and Otago will welcome back Timoci Tavatavanawai and George Bower respectively for their Saturday night match. <\/p>\n
Wellington will have four members of the All Blacks squad at their service on Sunday afternoon \u2013 backs Kyle Preston and Ruben Love, and forwards Peter Lakai and Asafo Aumua \u2013 while Caleb Clarke is set to return from his high ankle injury to join Auckland when they head to Porirua Park. <\/p>\n
Ranfurly Shield holders, Waikato, will have Anton Lienert-Brown, Luke Jacobson, Samipeni Finau and Ollie Norris available for their Shield defence against Southland on Sunday afternoon. <\/p>\n
The list of All Blacks playing for their provincial teams is as follows: <\/p>\n
North Harbour v Bay of Plenty \u2013 North Harbour Stadium, 7.05pm <\/p>\n
Bay of Plenty: Emoni Narawa; Leroy Carter, Tevita Mafileo <\/p>\n
Canterbury v Manawat\u016b \u2013 Rangiora Showground Oval, 2.05pm <\/p>\n
Canterbury: Brodie McAlister <\/p>\n
Counties Manukau v Taranaki \u2013 Navigation Homes Stadium, Pukekohe, 2.05pm <\/p>\n
Tasman v Otago \u2013 Trafalgar Park, Nelson, 7.05pm <\/p>\n
Tasman: Timoci Tavatavanawai <\/p>\n
Northland v Hawke’s Bay 4.35, Semenoff Stadium – no All Blacks available<\/p>\n
Wellington v Auckland \u2013 Porirua Park, 2.05pm <\/p>\n
Wellington: Kyle Preston; Peter Lakai; Ruben Love; Asafo Aumua <\/p>\n
Waikato v Southland \u2013 FMG Stadium Waikato, 4.35pm <\/p>\n
Waikato: Anton Lienert-Brown; Luke Jacobson; Samipeni Finau; Ollie Norris<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Waikato will have four All Blacks returning to defend the Ranfurly Shield against Southland PHOTO: LINTOTT PHOTOGRAPHY Sixteen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98133,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-98132","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\/98132","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=98132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98132\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}