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All Black team named: Barrett out, Sopoaga in

Lima Sopoaga is set to start just his second test
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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.

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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.

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Phantom 38 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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