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All Blacks set to lose senior players for third Bledisloe Cup test
Three senior All Blacks are expected to miss the flight from New Zealand to Perth on Thursday ahead of next week’s third Bledisloe Cup clash at Optus Stadium.
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Fresh after the announcement of his reappointment as All Blacks head coach through until the 2023 World Cup, Ian Foster confirmed that his side may be without interim captain Sam Whitelock and veteran halfback Aaron Smith due to the imminent arrivals of their respective babies.
According to the New Zealand Herald, first-choice playmaker Richie Mo’unga is also understood to be in a similar position, meaning the All Blacks could be without three of their frontline players for a match that doubles as their second Rugby Championship fixture.
That would mean the All Blacks will require a new captain for the Wallabies clash, to be played on either September 3 or 4, given Whitelock is already filling in for the injured Sam Cane.
Smith was handed the captaincy role for the first time in his test career when Whitelock was benched for New Zealand’s win over Fiji in Dunedin last month, but he won’t be able to do so again should he miss the flight to Western Australia.
The only other player in the All Blacks squad with captaincy experience at international level is Beauden Barrett, who captained New Zealand against the Barbarians at Twickenham in 2017.
Barrett has found himself stuck on the bench for most of this season after being usurped by Mo’unga as New Zealand’s top option at No 10, and another appearance off the bench would significantly reduce Barrett’s captaincy chances for the Wallabies test.
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However, with Mo’unga set to miss the upcoming test, the two-time World Rugby Player of the Year could be handed just his second start at No 10 this season, with his last outing in the starting lineup coming against Fiji in Dunedin.
Elsewhere, loose forwards Ardie Savea and Dalton Papalii, halfbacks TJ Perenara and Brad Weber, locks Brodie Retallick and Scott Barrett, midfielder Rieko Ioane, and hooker Codie Taylor all of have captaincy experience at Super Rugby level.
Savea, Taylor, Perenara, Retallick and Ioane may be considered the frontrunners out of that contingent given their strong standing in the All Blacks squad and likelihood of starting in Perth.
“I’ll have to confirm everything but it’s unlikely Sammy Whitelock for example and Aaron Smith potentially will be on the plane on Thursday,” Foster said. “We’ll confirm more of those details as I have them.”
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The Herald also reports that Scott Barrett is expecting the birth of his first child and, depending on the availability of MIQ spots, could be one of numerous players to return home early from the All Blacks’ lengthy stay away from home, which will last for more than three months.
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Furthermore, Foster will name his travelling All Blacks squad on Wednesday, but the 56-year-old has already indicated that players who are injured or completing their return from injury will be left at home for this test before linking up with the squad in Queensland later in the Rugby Championship campaign.
Those players include the likes of props Joe Moody and Ofa Tuungafasi, hooker Dane Coles and midfielder Braydon Ennor.
“We’ve had to replan and adapt. In terms of the squad size our goal was always going to be to take a slightly smaller squad over initially and then add to it through the programme,” Foster said.
“That was principally because we could have players back here playing NPC in the meantime before we brought them over. We’re also very cognisant that once they leave our shores they can’t comeback.
“The last 48 hours we’ve been focusing on that. The squad will be mid-30s I’d say initially. We’ve got to look at some variables now.
“We’ve got to have players that have had two jabs before they get on a plane so that changes things. They’ve got to have a negative Covid test so everyone is running around doing that today.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
29 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
29 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
29 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
29 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
29 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments