Kieran Read believes that Peter Lakai is the player who the All Blacks should build their back-row around for their upcoming Bledisloe Cup Tests.<\/p>\n
New Zealand and Australia are set to face off in their Bledisloe Cup opener at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday before the teams meet in the corresponding fixture at the Accor Stadium in Sydney on October 17.<\/p>\n
The All Blacks<\/a> could unleash a new-look back-row this weekend as they try to extend their unbeaten streak at Eden Park to 54 Tests.<\/p>\n Experienced blindside flanker Shannon Frizell was added to New Zealand\u2019s squad as one of the loose forwards alongside Lakai<\/a>, Simon Parker, Anton Segner, Ethan Blackadder and Wallace Sititi while second-row Tupou Vaa\u2019i is also a back-row option.<\/p>\n Key back-row duo sidelined due to injury<\/p>\n First-choice number eight and captain Ardie Savea as well as fellow loose forward Luke Jacobson are both sidelined due to injuries.<\/p>\n Savea and Jacobson wore the number eight and seven jerseys in the first three Tests in Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry series against the Springboks recently, with Vaa\u2019i, Parker and Lakai alternating as the starting blindside flankers for New Zealand in those respective encounters.<\/p>\n Lakai was shifted to number eight in the fourth Test against the Boks while Vaa\u2019i was back in the number six jersey \u2013 after starting at lock in the previous two matches \u2013 and Blackadder packed down on the openside flank.<\/p>\n By contrast, the Wallabies have a settled back-row with captain Harry Wilson usually starting at number eight alongside Fraser McReight and Rob Valetini, who are the two flankers.<\/p>\n Although the All Blacks\u2019 back-row is not as settled as the Wallabies<\/a>\u2018, Read<\/a> feels they still have a good mix of players to select from.<\/p>\n \u201cOur loose forwards aren\u2019t a general weakness for us. It\u2019s potentially where we\u2019re at as a team right now,\u201d he told The Good, The Bad & Rugby Australia & New Zealand<\/a> podcast.<\/p>\n All Blacks and Wallabies greats agree on \u2018absolute rubbish\u2019 verdict regarding Australia star\u2019s absence for Bledisloe Cup Tests<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t quite know our combination like maybe our backline (where) we\u2019re settled on. Aside from a left winger, we\u2019re pretty settled there.<\/p>\n \u2018We don\u2019t quite know our best team\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cOur forward pack, we don\u2019t quite know our best team and that\u2019s probably a symptom of maybe the guys haven\u2019t quite stepped up but also, they\u2019re not quite getting long enough time to kind of nail their position and go, \u2018This is how we play, it\u2019s my role in the team and that\u2019s what we do\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWhereas the Wallabies have got that sorted in terms of their starters and they\u2019ve got some amazing guys to come off the bench.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel our loose forwards have the ability to be a better loose forward trio and better players potentially when you look at them individually but sometimes it\u2019s putting that combination together which is the most important thing, so it will be really interesting to see what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n Read then revealed that Lakai is the player who is crucial to the All Blacks\u2019 loose trio and also praised Segner, who was added to the Bledisloe Cup squad after leaving their recent South African tour prematurely due to injury.<\/p>\n