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Beauden Barrett back in starting All Blacks team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park

New Zealand's Beauden Barrett (R) talks with the coach Dave Rennie (L) during a captain's run training session at One New Zealand Stadium in Christchurch on July 3, 2026, ahead of the rugby Nations Championship match against France. (Photo by Sanka Vidanagama / AFP via Getty Images)
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The All Blacks have named their team to play the Wallabies at Eden Park with all three Barrett brothers named to play in the starting XV once again.

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After Richie Mo’unga was ruled out with a hamstring tear, the selectors have moved regular fullback Damian McKenzie into the No.10 jersey with 145-Test veteran Beauden Barrett named to start at fullback.

Also returning to the All Blacks team for the first time this year are Scott Barrett in the second row and Shannon Frizell, who has been named on the bench in the 19 jersey next to Anton Segner, two loose forward replacements.

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Centre Rieko Ioane will play his first Test of 2026 after impressing in the mid-week games in South Africa, named in the 22 jersey.

With Ardie Savea out injured, hooker Codie Taylor will take over the captaincy. Taylor has been named to start alongside Ethan de Groot and Fletcher Newell in the front row.

The new starting back row combination features Tupou Vaa’i at blindside, Peter Lakai at openside and Wallace Sititi at No.8.

The All Blacks drafted in Crusaders utility back Chay Fihaki to the squad as cover for the injuries to Mo’unga and Fehi Fineanganofo.

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All Blacks team to play Wallabies at Eden Park:

1. Ethan de Groot
2. Codie Taylor (c)
3. Fletcher Newell
4. Scott Barrett
5. Josh Lord
6. Tupou Vaa’i
7. Peter Lakai
8. Wallace Sititi
9. Cam Roigard
10. Damian McKenzie
11. Leroy Carter
12. Jordie Barrett
13. Quinn Tupaea
14. Will Jordan
15. Beauden Barrett

Reserves
16. Asafo Aumua
17. George Bower
18. Pasilio Tosi
19. Shannon Frizell
20. Anton Segner
21. Kyle Preston
22. Rieko Ioane
23. Josh Moorby

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9 Comments
S
SB 3 mins ago

Talk about back to the future . . .

s
sb 5 mins ago

Let’s hope Dmac doesn’t throw away a hat trick of second half tries again this time.

B
Bruiser 5 mins ago

What am I missing with Holland non selection???? Is it scrum power having Barrett there? Maybe Holland has been told to bulk up?

u
unknown 10 mins ago

One too many Barretts I reckon !

K
KiwiJohn 10 mins ago

No Holland or Blackadder?

Any thoughts?

G
GS 52 mins ago

Interesting team to say the least, not sure when Beauden B last playing more than 20 minutes at Super/Test level, so interesting selection - guess Moorby is on the bench to cover him if he runs out of gas.


No fan of non tackling wingers, so shake my head around Carter’s selection, though at least he is a great attacker though just know that the Wallabies will be looking at isolating him in defence and getting him one on one defending.


Tosi should be fine, Wallabies scrum without Topou is very much depowered and no Holland? Simliar for Taylor I guess, they need his leadership skills but at 35 I think pretty clear to see that it’s questionable if he is the best Hooker in the country.


Excited to see Frizell - could he be the answer we are looking for at 6? Wallabies have a very classly loss forward trio and when Frizell/Segner come on, could be along with Savea that is the loose forward trio we will take into the WC?


Anyway let’s go ABs and with fingers crossed ABs by 10?

N
NucK 53 mins ago

Can't shake BB. Terrible team

U
Utiku Old Boy 53 mins ago

Not sure the team trajectory is right despite all the injuries. Jacomb is not getting any development with this set-up. Rennie seems to be following the same path as others with the BB fandom. Carter and Moorby have not stepped up to elite level and could be exposed again. Taumoefolau should be in there and Fihaki has more upside than the two chosen IMO. Tosi has struggled at set piece against quality internationals but Lomax has been off the pace. Wallabies have been firing pretty well but this will likely be a closely run match-up.

G
GS 49 mins ago

Not much trust in Jacomb - but then he didn’t command the 10 jersey at the Chiefs and to get serious gametime, has had to go to the Highlanders.


So if he can’t be trusted by Chiefs coaches, guess AB coaches maybe have similiar concerns?


Heard a rumour that Harry Plummer might be returning to NZ post next years Super/Top 14 season? Interesting if he does - I haven’t seen him play, but supposed to be going really well over there.

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David Laurenson 54 minutes ago
Has the balance between attack and defence become too lopsided?

I and the many others could not disagree more. The score lines are reflective of mainly the ability of the more dominate team, on the day. Forward tries by crash n bash, The illegal mauls, where players are ahead of the ball carrier are an easy score. The one area where the offence team is king though is the Maul !The defensive capabilities to stop a maul are nil, it used to be that all players were not offside as long as they had contact with another player. This was mandatory whether or not you were at the sides or in fact anywhere in the meelay. Now you have to retreat on the refs call to the back, you can’t even tackle the ball carrier, as you then get penalized for collapsing the maul. ALL the advantage is with the offensive side, Mauls are a freeby ! The structure that favors forward participation is predicable and boring. Backs have had to become forwards ! Line speed has totally killed off, running play. To qualify the offside laws have not or seldom been altered since rugby went professional. No compensation has been made for these elite athletes of today, meaning LESS time and SPACE to find a gap. Our game is compressed. We see all games where the pass is made and the receiver getting cleaned out. What does this tell us ? As coaches you have designed a bar the door screen of players, we have pods of forwards, hitting up with intent yet hardly making the gain line, time and time again. with phase play in the thirties. Backs are now used as forwards to hit it up and hopefully retain possession from the tackled ball or ruck. If you diagnosed our game with mathematicians and engineers, they would come up with two causes. Either you have less players, or you enlarge the field of play. Of course this would not be entertained, so the obvious solution is to add a metre to all the current off side laws. WHY to give a little time and space for the offensive team to attack, that’s right the opposite to what we have just read, but for both sides this would allow some freedom for backs to be backs, less kicking, less forward interference, we may even get our game back as it would be more enjoyable to play, to follow, to ref, fans could actually view tactics in motion as against the current predictability. Compression is negative, a little separation freedom.

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