{"id":58544,"date":"2025-10-03T17:08:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T17:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/58544\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T17:08:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T17:08:07","slug":"all-blacks-lose-tupou-vaai-to-knee-injury-ahead-of-wallabies-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/58544\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks lose Tupou Vaa\u2019i to knee injury ahead of Wallabies test"},"content":{"rendered":"

He said he was confident because Holland has had a great performance this season so far. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a good engine,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n

\"ScottScott Robertson and Scott Barrett front media after the All Blacks’ record defeat to South Africa. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Vaa\u2019i\u2019s setback is another blow to the All Blacks\u2019 depth stocks after starting tighthead prop Tyrel Lomax suffered a broken thumb last week that is expected to require surgery and end his season.<\/p>\n

This weekend, the All Blacks are also missing Beauden Barrett, Caleb Clarke and Ethan de Groot through injuries. <\/p>\n

The All Blacks are, however, confident Barrett\u2019s shoulder injury is not serious and he is expected to return for the northern tour.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku will play his first test for the All Blacks in nearly two years after being named on the left wing for Saturday\u2019s test<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He recently became eligible for selection again after an 18-month stint with French club Toulon and takes the place on the left wing of Clarke, who suffered an ankle injury in the All Blacks\u2019 33-24 win over the Wallabies last Saturday.<\/p>\n

\"LeicesterLeicester Fainga\u02bbanuku will play his first test since the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final win over Ireland. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

Fainga\u2019anuku, 25, last donned the black jersey in New Zealand\u2019s 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final win over Ireland.<\/p>\n

Among the other changes, Billy Proctor has been dropped, with Quinn Tupaea to start at centre, while Peter Lakai gets his first start at No 8, with Wallace Sititi named on the bench.<\/p>\n

New All Blacks side to face Wallabies<\/p>\n

1. Tamaiti Williams, 2. Codie Taylor, 3.\u202fFletcher Newell, 4. Scott Barrett (c), 5. Fabian Holland, 6.\u202fSimon Parker, 7.\u202fArdie Savea, 8.\u202fPeter Lakai, 9.\u202fCam Roigard, 10.\u202fDamian McKenzie, 11. Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku, 12.\u202fJordie Barrett, 13.\u202fQuinn Tupaea, 14. Leroy Carter, 15. Will Jordan.<\/p>\n

Bench: 16. Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho, 17. George Bower, 18. Pasilio Tosi, 19. Patrick Tuipulotu, 20. Wallace Sititi, 21. Cortez Ratima, 22. Rieko Ioane, 23. Ruben Love.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He said he was confident because Holland has had a great performance this season so far. \u201cHe\u2019s got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58545,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[74,3017,5263,8136,18239,305,15258,15439,5268,111,139,69,1118,72,17894,6327,17893,48656,213,31145,765,61,48654,48655,34432,102,48657],"class_list":["post-58544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-after","tag-ahead","tag-all","tag-blacks","tag-championship","tag-have","tag-injury","tag-knee","tag-lose","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-perth","tag-rematch","tag-rugby","tag-saturdays","tag-setback","tag-sports","tag-suffered","tag-test","tag-to","tag-tupou","tag-vaai","tag-wallabies","tag-with","tag-withdrew"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58544","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=58544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58544\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}