Rennie has picked his biggest forward pack yet, with an extra lock, Tupou Vaa’i, starting at blindside flanker to counter Ireland’s pack that coach Andy Farrell says<\/a> has “nothing to fear” from playing at Eden Park.<\/p>\n “We have selected a strong team<\/a> that allows some of the combinations we have tested to continue building, and rewards players who have impressed over the last two rounds,” he said.<\/p>\n It’s Ireland’s fifth visit to the ground and they’ve never won there \u2014 not even in 2022, when they claimed a historic series victory in New Zealand by winning the other two Tests.<\/p>\n They come into the Test ranked third in the world, just behind the All Blacks. South Africa are currently in World Rugby’s top spot.<\/p>\n All Blacks assistant coach Tana Umaga has called Ireland’s fearlessness of Eden Park “troubling”<\/a>, while hooker Codie Taylor has labelled<\/a> it the side’s “biggest challenge so far” this year. <\/p>\n 1News.co.nz will have live updates on the Test from 6pm.<\/p>\n Travel and match day info<\/p>\n It’s a big night for Auckland’s transport network, with more than 85,000 fans expected across three major events on the same evening \u2014 the Test at Eden Park, the Warriors against the Dragons at Go Media Stadium, and the Harlem Globetrotters at Spark Arena.<\/p>\n Auckland Transport is offering free integrated ticketing for the 50,000 fans expected at Eden Park, who can ride buses and trains to and from Kingsland from 3pm by showing their match ticket. <\/p>\n Special event buses will run every 10 to 15 minutes from Albany, the CBD and the eastern suburbs, with extra trains added after the match. The Western Line will be closed between Waitemat\u0101 (Britomart) and Morningside from 8.30pm to 10pm, so fans heading west will need to change to a rail replacement bus at Newmarket before rejoining the train at Morningside.<\/p>\n Team News<\/p>\n There are four changes and one positional switch from the Italy win. Patrick Tuipulotu returns from injury to partner Josh Lord in the second row, with Vaa’i shifting to blindside flanker in place of Wallace Sititi. <\/p>\n Quinn Tupaea replaces Billy Proctor at centre, and Josh Moorby, impressive off the bench on debut<\/a>, is promoted to start on the left wing ahead of Caleb Clarke. Fehi Fineanganofo and Leroy Carter are out through shoulder injuries, and Beauden Barrett again misses the squad.<\/p>\n Will Jordan starts on the wing having become the All Blacks’ all-time leading Test try-scorer<\/a> with his hat-trick against Italy, taking him to 50 tries in 56 Tests.<\/p>\n
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