All Black team named: Barrett out, Sopoaga in

Lima Sopoaga will start just the second test match of his All Black career this Saturday night, after Beauden Barrett was ruled out of the match against the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

Barrett had been suffering from the after effects of a head injury picked up in the All Blacks‘ last test match against the Springboks in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, wing Waisake Naholo gets a chance to start in place of the injured Nehe Milner-Skudder.

The match day 23 (with test caps in brackets) is:

1. Kane Hames (5)
2. Dane Coles (54)
3. Nepo Laulala (9)
4. Samuel Whitelock (92)
5. Scott Barrett (13)
6. Liam Squire (12)
7. Sam Cane (49)
8. Kieran Read (106) – Captain
9. Aaron Smith (67)
10. Lima Sopoaga (12)
11. Rieko Ioane (9)
12. Sonny Bill Williams (42)
13. Ryan Crotty (31)
14. Waisake Naholo (14)
15. Damian McKenzie (8)
16. Codie Taylor (25)
17. Wyatt Crockett (67)
18. Ofa Tu’ungafasi (10)
19. Patrick Tuipulotu (14)
20. Matt Todd (10)
21. TJ Perenara (38)
22. Anton Lienert-Brown (18)
23. David Havili (2)

Sam Cane is poised to play his 50th test, while skipper Kieran Read will make his 100th start in his 107th test.

If the All Blacks can score five tries in this match, it will mean they have surpassed 2,000 in their test history as a team. It’s not entirely unlikely, given that they scored five the last time they played the Wallabies, and eight the time before that.