{"id":572156,"date":"2026-08-17T23:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572156\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T23:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T23:34:10","slug":"all-blacks-v-springboks-who-is-new-prop-saula-mau","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572156\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks v Springboks: Who is new prop Saula Ma\u2019u?"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the start of 2020, he was named as part of a 52-man New Zealand Under-20s training squad even though he wasn\u2019t eligible for another 12 months. <\/p>\n

German-born flanker Anton Segner was also part of that team and he went on to make his All Blacks debut this year against Italy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, New Zealand U20 head coach Craig Philpott said: \u201cSaula and Anton [was] a big part of New Zealand Rugby moving forward so it\u2019s important they have access to these development opportunities\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the training camp would later be cancelled because of the Covid-19 outbreak, Ma\u2019u continued to be part of the Highlanders\u2019 high-performance programme and would earn his first Super Rugby contract in 2022, despite missing most of the previous year with a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Ma\u2019u primarily served as an impact player off the bench for the Highlanders but his form didn\u2019t go unnoticed, as he went on to be selected in the All Blacks\u2019 XV squad in 2024.<\/p>\n

Ma\u2019u missed the opening eight rounds of Super Rugby action due to a shoulder injury but when fit has established himself as a regular starter in the Highlanders with 20 starts in 24 matches.<\/p>\n

In total, he has played 58 games for the Highlanders and 40 for Otago.<\/p>\n

\"DevanDevan Flanders (from left), Xavier Numia and Saula Ma\u2019u as part of the All Blacks XV squad in 2024. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

His size, standing at 1.93m tall and 140kg, makes him an intimidating presence.<\/p>\n

Ma\u2019u played in all three of Otago\u2019s matches in the NPC this season before being called in to the All Blacks squad.<\/p>\n

It is unlikely he will play in any of the test matches but could be a chance to suit up against the Lions next Wednesday as part of their final tour match.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks have suffered four tour-ending injuries since arriving in South Africa with Billy Proctor<\/a> and Caleb Clarke<\/a> (both shoulder), George Bell<\/a> (calf) and Norris (knee) all sent home, while Richie Mo\u2019unga, Bradley Slater, and Ma\u2019u have been called in.<\/p>\n

No replacement has been called in for Clarke, while Noah Hotham has also joined the squad as Cortez Ratima nurses a knee injury.<\/p>\n

Ratima isn\u2019t the only player under an injury cloud ahead of the first test at Ellis Park on Sunday with Damian McKenzie in doubt with an ankle injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the start of 2020, he was named as part of a 52-man New Zealand Under-20s training squad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,8136,5842,305,52362,10933,185,24533,117,111,139,88039,69,69615,60617,4482,281980,17879,213,8137,47252,1557,88,165,1065,1299],"class_list":["post-572156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-blacks","tag-calling","tag-have","tag-highlanders","tag-injured","tag-is","tag-mau","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-norris","tag-nz","tag-ollie","tag-prop","tag-replace","tag-saula","tag-selection","tag-sports","tag-springboks","tag-sprung","tag-squad","tag-surprise","tag-their","tag-touring","tag-who"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572156","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=572156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}