{"id":231908,"date":"2025-10-29T11:02:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/231908\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T11:02:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T11:02:15","slug":"dalton-papalii-named-2025-all-blacks-xv-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/231908\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalton Papali\u2019i named 2025 All Blacks XV captain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2023 Rugby World Cup<\/a> finalist Dalton Papali\u2019i has been named captain of the All Blacks<\/a> XV ahead of matches against the Barbarians<\/a> in Brentford this weekend, England<\/a> A in Bath, and Uruguay<\/a> in the south of France.<\/p>\n

All Blacks XV<\/a> coach Jamie Joseph<\/a> selected Papali\u2019i and another seven internationally capped players in the squad for three matches up north, which starts in just a few days at Brentford\u2019s Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday (local time).<\/p>\n

Brodie McAlister, Christian Lio-Willie<\/a>, Folau Fakatava<\/a>, Kyle Preston<\/a>, Bradon Ennor, David Havili<\/a> and Dallas McLeod<\/a> have also played for the All Blacks, while others like Xavier Roe<\/a> and Chay Fihaki<\/a> have previously spent time in camp.<\/p>\n

Papali\u2019i was a long-term established All Black, playing in more than 30 Test matches since debuting in a one-sided win over Japan<\/a> in 2018. The backrower made one international appearance this year, coming off the pine against France<\/a> in Hamilton.<\/p>\n

After returning to provincial level with Counties Manukau, Papali\u2019i started seven consecutive matches at either blindside flanker or No. 8, before returning to representative rugby with the All Blacks XV \u2013 \u00a0now set to lead the side as All Blacks Teams revealed online.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day before we went into our first day of camp in Auckland, Jamie [Joseph] gave me a call just to come in and have a meeting with him,\u201d Papali\u2019i said in a video on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cCame in before the boys did and just had a good conversation with him, just talking about how would I feel taking on the captaincy role.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpportunity to grow myself again. I\u2019ve captained the Blues<\/a> and that and the younger grades so it\u2019s pretty awesome. Didn\u2019t take it lightly at first.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a good opportunity for me just to not change myself but just lead through what I know I\u2019m good at and that\u2019s just by trying to show up every day and give it my all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pretty special moment for me, my little family, and mum and dad representing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Papali\u2019i is one of six loose forwards in the 30-man squad, and one of three players from the Blues selected overall. Joseph also picked front-rower Josh Fusitua<\/a> and second-rower Josh Beehre<\/a>, who were part of the Super Rugby Pacific<\/a> title-winning side of 2024.<\/p>\n

Chiefs<\/a> and Taranaki\u2019s Kaylum Boshier<\/a>, Devan Flanders<\/a> from the Hurricanes, Highlanders<\/a> backrower Te Kamaka Howden, Sean Withy<\/a> from the Highlanders and Southland, Lio-Willie and Papali\u2019i are the six loose forwards in the 2025 All Blacks XV.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet this old body working again. Had a good NPC and Blues season but there\u2019s nothing like representing the black jersey,\u201d Papali\u2019i added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be good, man. Looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2023 Rugby World Cup finalist Dalton Papali\u2019i has been named captain of the All Blacks XV ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-231908","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}