{"id":614930,"date":"2026-09-29T03:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T03:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614930\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T03:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T03:10:08","slug":"all-blacks-ruben-love-joins-injury-list-for-bledisloe-cup-scott-barrett-and-shannon-frizell-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/614930\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks: Ruben Love joins injury list for Bledisloe Cup, Scott Barrett and Shannon Frizell return"},"content":{"rendered":"

After playing for Tasman in the NPC, Rennie has called Frizell into his 34-man squad as a contender for the problematic No 6 jersey. <\/p>\n

Former captain Scott Barrett has been named to make his comeback after spending most of 2026 on the sidelines with a back injury<\/a>. <\/p>\n

He returns to the All Blacks for the first time since losing the captaincy following Scott Robertson\u2019s departure at the start of the year, and takes the place of the injured Patrick Tuipulotu in the squad, while Sam Darry has been dropped. <\/p>\n

With Ardie Savea facing an extended spell on the sidelines, Codie Taylor has been named captain for the two Bledisloe Cup tests.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old was dropped for the decisive third test between the All Blacks and Springboks in Soweto, but returned as captain one week later in Baltimore once Savea left the tour with a shoulder injury. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to welcome back Scott Barrett and Shannon Frizell,\u201d said Rennie. <\/p>\n

\u201cScott has had a challenging stretch on the sidelines, and we\u2019re thrilled to have his experience and leadership back in the group. Shannon brings plenty of test experience and physical impact to our loose forwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongratulations also to Codie Taylor on the captaincy. Codie is a top man who has huge mana. His leadership as tour captain was important for us during Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry, so we know he will do an outstanding job in Ardie\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bledisloe Cup means a huge amount to this team. We\u2019ve held it since 2003 and we don\u2019t take that for granted. Australia will be a real challenge. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now a very experienced Wallabies side who have played a lot of Test footy together. After eight games on the road, we\u2019re excited to start this series in front of our home crowd at Eden Park.\u201d<\/p>\n

Otherwise, the 34-man squad contains 32 players who travelled to South Africa and Baltimore for the Greatest Rivalry Series. <\/p>\n

All Blacks squad:<\/p>\n

Forwards: Codie Taylor (c), Asafo Aumua, Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho, Ethan de Groot, George Bower, Xavier Numia, Tyrel Lomax, Fletcher Newell, Pasilio Tosi, Scott Barrett, Josh Lord, Fabian Holland, Tupou Vaa\u2019i, Simon Parker, Shannon Frizell, Anton Segner, Ethan Blackadder, Peter Lakai, Wallace Sititi<\/p>\n

Backs: Cam Roigard, Cortez Ratima, Kyle Preston, Richie Mo\u2019unga, Josh Jacomb, Jordie Barrett, Quinn Tupaea, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Rieko Ioane, Fehi Fineanganofo, Josh Moorby, Will Jordan, Beauden Barrett, Damian McKenzie.<\/p>\n

Unavailable to injury: Ruben Love (ankle); Patrick Tuipulotu (calf); Ardie Savea (shoulder); Luke Jacobson (elbow); Anton Lienert-Brown (knee); Billy Proctor (shoulder); Caleb Clarke (shoulder); Ollie Norris (knee). <\/p>\n

Alex Powell<\/a> is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After playing for Tasman in the NPC, Rennie has called Frizell into his 34-man squad as a contender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614931,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,95,9526,85,20437,1558,8136,26888,26862,154827,10542,9635,1872,158528,2082,191633,29888,15258,70487,6371,10005,2882,3234,111,139,1536,69,138234,1527,131808,8139,162419,213,1557,764,19791,102],"class_list":["post-614930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-and","tag-another","tag-australia","tag-barrett","tag-been","tag-blacks","tag-bledisloe","tag-blow","tag-casualty","tag-cup","tag-dave","tag-face","tag-firstfive","tag-for","tag-frizell","tag-handed","tag-injury","tag-joining","tag-joins","tag-list","tag-love","tag-months","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-next","tag-nz","tag-rennie","tag-return","tag-ruben","tag-scott","tag-shannon","tag-sports","tag-squad","tag-tests","tag-ward","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614930","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=614930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}