{"id":56403,"date":"2025-10-02T14:33:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/56403\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T14:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T14:33:10","slug":"all-blacks-make-seven-changes-to-starting-xv-for-final-round-of-trc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/56403\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks make seven changes to starting XV for final round of TRC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The final round of The Rugby Championship<\/a> is here, and the All Blacks<\/a> have made some intriguing changes to their matchday 23 with the trophy on the line.<\/p>\n

A handful of the changes are injury-enforced, with Ethan de Groot (concussion), Tyrel Lomax<\/a> (thumb), Beauden Barrett<\/a> (shoulder), and Caleb Clarke<\/a> (ankle) all ruled out of the contest. Tamaiti Williams<\/a>, Fletcher Newell<\/a>, Damian McKenzie<\/a>, and Leicetser Fainga\u2019anuku are the players promoted to the starting XV as a result. It will be Fainga\u2019anuku\u2019s first Test match since the 2023 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n

Captain Scott Barrett<\/a> returns in the second row, meaning there\u2019s no room for Fabian Holland<\/a> in the matchday squad as Tuopu Vaa\u2019i retains his starting berth and Patrick Tuipulotu<\/a> continues to thrive in an impact role.<\/p>\n

Two changes that appear to be form-based selections see Peter Lakai<\/a> get his first Test start in a black jersey, coming in at No. 8 and pushing Wallace Sititi<\/a> to the bench. Also, Quinn Tupaea<\/a> comes in at No.13 as Billy Proctor<\/a> drops out of the matchday team.<\/p>\n

On the bench, George Bower<\/a> and Pasilio Tosi come into the action after limited minutes in 2025, along with Rieko Ioane<\/a> and Ruben Love.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw how competitive and determined the Wallabies were in Auckland<\/a> last weekend, staying in the fight right to the end,\u201d said head coach Scott Robertson<\/a>, whose team are yet to register consecutive wins in the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect another tough contest this Saturday. We have picked a 23 to go toe-to-toe with a quality Australian team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all up for grabs in what has been the most even Rugby Championship we\u2019ve ever seen, and we\u2019re here to cap off this competition with a performance we can be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rugby Championship <\/p>\n

P<\/p>\n

W<\/p>\n

L<\/p>\n

D<\/p>\n

PF<\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

PD<\/p>\n

BP T<\/p>\n

BP-7<\/p>\n

BP<\/p>\n

Total<\/p>\n

1 <\/p>\n

\"South <\/p>\n

5 <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

0 <\/p>\n

15 <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

\"New <\/p>\n

5 <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

0 <\/p>\n

14 <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

\"Australia\"\/ <\/p>\n

5 <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

0 <\/p>\n

11 <\/p>\n

4 <\/p>\n

\"Argentina\"\/ <\/p>\n

5 <\/p>\n

2 <\/p>\n

3 <\/p>\n

0 <\/p>\n

9 <\/p>\n

All Blacks team to play the Wallabies<\/p>\n

Tamaiti Williams (22)Codie Taylor (102)Fletcher Newell (30)Scott Barrett (85) (Captain)Tupou Vaa\u2019i (45)Simon Parker (4)Ardie Savea (102) (Vice-Captain)Peter Lakai (4)Cam Roigard (13)Damian McKenzie (69)Leicester<\/a> Fainga\u2019anuku (7)Jordie Barrett (76) (Vice-Captain)Quinn Tupaea (20)Leroy Carter (2)Will Jordan (49)<\/p>\n

Reserves<\/p>\n

16. Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho (38)
17. George Bower (23)
18.\u00a0Pasilio Tosi (11)
19. Patrick Tuipulotu (55)
20. Wallace Sititi (14)
21. Cortez Ratima<\/a> (17)
22. Rieko Ioane (86)
23. Ruben Love<\/a> (3)<\/p>\n

Unavailable for\u00a0selection:\u00a0Tyrel Lomax (thumb), Caleb Clarke (ankle), Beauden Barrett (shoulder), Ethan de Groot (concussion), Ollie Norris<\/a> (back),\u00a0Emoni Narawa (rib fracture),\u00a0Timoci\u00a0Tavatavanawai\u00a0(fractured radius).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The final round of The Rugby Championship is here, and the All Blacks have made some intriguing changes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-56403","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}