Retallick to captain All Blacks as Moody returns for Los Pumas
Brodie Retallick will captain the All Blacks for the first time in his test career when they face off against Los Pumas on the Gold Coast this Sunday.
Retallick, who was named as one of two vice-captains for the Rugby Championship, takes the leadership duties off stand-in captain Ardie Savea, who has been left out of the clash at Cbus Super Stadium.
Savea’s absence paves the way for Luke Jacobson to earn his third international start this season, with the seven-test No 8 joining Dalton Paplii and last week’s man-of-the-match Akira Ioane in the loose forwards.
The inclusion of Jacobson in the starting lineup is one of six changes made by head coach Ian Foster to the run-on side from the team that defeated the Wallabies 38-21 at Optus Stadium in Perth last Sunday.
Two of those changes come in the front row, where Karl Tu’inukuafe replaces George Bower at loosehead prop to get his second start of the year in the black jersey, while Asafo Aumua will play his third test as Samisoni Taukei’aho stays put on the bench.
Bower doesn’t feature at all in the match day squad, as veteran prop Joe Moody returns from a five-month sideline spell caused by foot injury sustained during Super Rugby Aotearoa to start from the bench.
He will be partnered by Tyrel Lomax, who hasn’t played for the All Blacks since their clash against Fiji in Dunedin two months ago, as the two replacement props.
In the backline, TJ Perenara swaps in at halfback for Brad Weber, to has dropped to the bench, and will alongside former long-time halves partner Beauden Barrett for the first time since last year’s Bledisloe Cup defeat to the Wallabies in Brisbane.
After two appearances off the bench for the All Blacks following his return to the national camp from his sabbatical in Japan during the first half of the year, this week’s test will be the first time Perenara has started for the All Blacks in 2021.
It will also be just the 18th time he has started a test match in his 71-cap career, with five of those previous starts coming against Argentina.
The midfield of David Havili and Anton Lienert-Brown, meanwhile, remains unchanged, but there is a new look to the back three as both Rieko Ioane and Will Jordan have dropped out of the starting team.
Ioane, one of the standouts in last week’s win over Australia, will instead start from the No 23 jersey, while Jordan, who dotted down for his 11th try in just his seventh test against the Wallabies, has been given a rest in the wake of his try-scoring feats.
Quade Cooper will make a dramatic return to test rugby as Wallabies coach Dave Rennie rolls the dice to try to keep Australia’s forlorn Rugby Championship hopes alive. #Wallabies #AUSvRSA #RugbyChampionship https://t.co/nQtqSCYadA
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 9, 2021
In their places on the left and right wings come George Bridge – who marked his return from injury with a try off the in Perth – and Sevu Reece, while Jordie Barrett retains the No 15 jersey after his red card was rescinded by SANZAAR earlier this week.
Moody, Lomax, Weber and Ioane act as the new faces in the reserves, where Damian McKenzie will provide cover as playmaker, and Ethan Blackadder and Tupou Vaa’i will be hoping for more extensive game time against Argentina.
Foster said in a statement that the rotation of his side is a necessity given the travel conditions they are working under as he looks to keep his players preserved and fresh for the upcoming matches against the Springboks.
“The key to selection this week has been about managing the player workload across the whole squad, which I think all teams will be doing in the Championship,” he said.
“We want to ensure we have a fresh, excited squad ready to play a physical and passionate Argentinian team.
“They’ve had a tough time on the road with matches in Europe and South Africa before coming to Australia. But we know from last year that when they spend a lot of time together it really unifies them, so we’re expecting a torrid game.”
He added the selection of Retallick as captain is indicative of his stature in the squad, which has grown immensely ever since his test debut back in 2012 against Ireland.
“Brodie is a great leader in this team and we don’t take his leadership for granted,” Foster said.
“We think this is a great honour for him, and he and his family can be hugely proud. He’s playing really well and leads from the front. He has come back into the black jersey this year and just picked up where he left off.
“He also has an experienced partner in Beaudy (Barrett) alongside him who is bringing a calmness to the team and a sense of direction and we’re seeing that in the way he plays.”
All Blacks team to play Los Pumas
1. Karl Tu’inukuafe
2. Asafo Aumua
3. Nepo Laulala
4. Brodie Retallick (c)
5. Scott Barrett
6. Akira Ioane
7. Dalton Papalii
8. Luke Jacobson
9. TJ Perenara
10. Beauden Barrett
11. George Bridge
12. David Havili
13. Anton Lienert-Brown
14. Sevu Reece
15. Jordie Barrett
Reserves:
16. Samisoni Taukei’aho
17. Joe Moody
18. Tyrel Lomax
19. Tupou Vaa’i
20. Ethan Blackadder
21. Brad Weber
22. Damian McKenzie
23. Rieko Ioane
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 …
26 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 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