The winners and losers of the 2025 All Blacks XV

The All Blacks XV have extended their win streak to seven with a three-from-three European tour, and as always, the fixtures have helped paint a picture of who has the goods for the next level.

Of the 30 players selected in 2025, 10 were returnees from 2024, and five joined the All Blacks as training cover due to various injuries and absences over the past three weeks: George Dyer, Devan Flanders, Christian Lio-Willie, Josh Beehre, and Caleb Tangitau. Dyer, Flanders, and Lio-Willie remain with the All Blacks for the final week of their tour.

Seven of the 2024 All Blacks XV squad members have been promoted to the top group in 2025, and there are undoubtedly several candidates in this year’s squad who could make the same step up next year. While the positives from the tour comfortably outweigh the negatives, there are also some players who have missed an opportunity to fire.

Here are the winners and losers of the 2025 All Blacks XV squad.

Winners

The Captain

Dalton Papali’i has been an All Black every year since 2018, but with no official squad selections and just 15 minutes on the park as an injury reserve during the France series, 2025 has been a significant change of pace for the flanker.

Named captain for the All Blacks XV, Papali’i needed to make a statement, and he did.

In game one of the tour, with the Barbarians in threatening form early on, Papali’i’s defence was outstanding. When breaks were made, Papali’i’s ability to be in the right place at the right time and make a crucial tackle had a massive influence, ensuring the scoreline didn’t blow out beyond the 19-0 deficit the Kiwis would go on to eclipse in the second half.

The 28-year-old had a game-high of 16 tackles against England A, and again had 16 against Uruguay, missing just one tackle attempt across those two Tests. He registered a six-tackle, two-miss effort against the Barbarians. When moved to No.8 for the final match of the tour, the Aucklander made his presence felt with a game-high 12 carries.

The Centre of Attention

The No.13 jersey had a shaky start to the tour, but looked a whole lot more stable when Braydon Ennor stepped into it.

The nine-time All Black’s career has, thus far, been defined by the three ACL injuries he’s suffered, each at three-year intervals. Superstitious Crusaders fans could be forgiven for wanting the 28-year-old to take the year off, considering the 2025 season marks three years since his last knee injury against the Wallabies in the 2022 Bledisloe Cup. But, not only has he emerged from the season unscathed, he has re-established himself as an option for higher honours.

Ennor’s pace appears to be elite still, and his feel for the game is certainly up to task for a position that demands defensive intuition.

The Electric Outsides

Selection for the back three is always highly contested when it comes to Kiwi sides, but the four who made the cut for the 2025 All Blacks XV certainly rewarded the faith shown in them by selectors.

Caleb Tangitau was a scoring threat throughout his two starts, claiming three tries and earning himself a week with the All Blacks as injury cover. The highly-touted speedster’s pace was on full display and stacked up well against the Barbarians and England A, further implying his readiness for the Test arena. Comments from defence coach Cory Jane last week affirmed the talent factor, but also recognised the realities of Tangitau’s high-risk, high-reward style of play.

Etene Nanai-Seturo earned himself Man of the Match honours in the opening contest against the Barbarians, making the most of his team-high 13 carries with a game-high three linebreaks. The Chiefs star’s skill set was on full display, beating tackles with his notorious hot-stepping ability and explosive physicality. The tour served as another statement that few players in the rugby world have Nanai-Seturo’s tackle-breaking talent.

Chay Fihaki and Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens shared minutes at fullback, and both provided plenty of impact. Playmaking, backfield management, and linebreaks were all on the menu regardless of who was wearing No.15.

The Playmakers

Josh Jacomb deserves plenty of credit for his game management in game one against the Barbarians, moving a giant, South African-heavy pack around the park and wearing them down to the point where his side could take advantage in the second half. Starting at No.10 for the first two fixtures of the tour, he was striking the ball at 70 per cent off the tee. Rivez Reihana kicked ever so slightly better on a lower volume in the third game.

Both Jacomb and Reihana posed a triple threat with the ball in hand, making linebreaks, creating linebreak assists, and contributing quality tactical kicking.

While Reihana, 25, will have the chance to build on his breakout 2025 season with a starting role at the Crusaders in 2026, Jacomb has one more year of mentorship under Damian McKenzie at the Chiefs before making the move south to the Highlanders.

The Set Piece

The All Blacks XV won 39 of their 40 scrums and 28 of their 32 lineouts across the three contests. It’s an impressive feat given two of the three originally selected locks, Naitoa Ah Kuoi and Isaia Walker-Leawere, left the tour before a single game had been played. Injuries in the top squad to Patrick Tuipulotu and Tupou Vaa’i had already changed the selection picture for the development team.

TK Howden, a blindside flanker since leaving high school, filled in at No.4 against England A, and fellow loose forward Devan Flanders covered the second row off the bench against Uruguay.

Josh Beehre, the only lock originally selected in the squad, spent time with the All Blacks during two of the three tour weeks and returned for two starts and a bench appearance. The 23-year-old’s physicality stood up to all the tests presented, despite travel and training disruptions.

Meanwhile, in the front row, after the 2024 All Blacks XV selections featured a starting trio with an average age just shy of 32, 2025 got younger with the additions of Jack Taylor, Siale Lauaki, Josh Fusitu’a, and Benet Kumeroa, without surrendering competitiveness.

Losers

The Sixth Halfback

After an impressive 2025 Super Rugby Pacific campaign with the Chiefs, Xavier Roe was revealed to be the sixth-choice halfback in the eyes of All Blacks selectors when an injury crisis struck during the Rugby Championship.

Of the three halfbacks selected for the All Blacks XV, though, Roe’s impact was the least convincing.

Starting game one against the Barbarians, Roe was perhaps unlucky to oversee the period of the tour where New Zealand was most on the back foot. But with Kyle Preston coming into the game after 59 minutes and immediately injecting pace into the Kiwi attack, Roe’s contributions were tainted.

Folau Fakatava’s evolving 2025 form also culminated in some special play for the All Blacks XV. An All Black in 2022, All Blacks XV representative in 2023, and a complete omission in 2024, the 25-year-old’s return to the national selection picture, just as Dylan Pledger arrives at the Highlanders, is sure to have fans across the Deep South grinning from ear to ear.

Pledger’s expected ascension spells trouble for any Kiwi halfback not making the most of the opportunities presented,  and Roe was just a step behind his counterparts in Europe.

22m Entries

Avg. Points Scored

1.7

8

Entries

Avg. Points Scored

3.1

10

Entries

The Concreter

Like Chiefs running mate Roe, Rona’s efforts in game one against the Barbarians were overshadowed by his replacement after 45 minutes, Braydon Ennor.

Rona’s ascension from a concreter in the Chiefs’ wider training group at 22 years of age to an All Blacks XV representative at 25 is to be commended. It suggests he’ll be better for the experience this tour has provided. Still, with just two carries, two tackles and a miss in his lone start, Rona’s contributions were muted.

A more positive showing off the bench in game three did produce a try, but as the only midfielder in the squad without an international Test cap to his name, Rona needed to make more of an impact to move his name up the pecking order.

The Muscle

On the whole, the All Blacks XV appeared more reliant on a few big bodies for their go-forward than their opponents. Cory Jane remarked last week that the tour was a great opportunity for the players to face more physical opposition.

While the three wins prove the size deficit was a challenge overcome, the fact that the assistant coach is speaking so openly about how much of a physical step-up this level is compared to Super Rugby certainly raises concerns about the state of Super Rugby Pacific.

Much has been made of the South African exit, and rightly so. The Barbarians’ forward pack featured some true heavy-hitters in Bongi Mbonambi, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, and Evan Roos, all of whom scored with relative ease as the Kiwi defence looked short of answer for that kind of muscle.

These All Blacks coaches have certainly valued size in their selections, and while there’s plenty of depth in skill set, that physical X-factor appears few and far between.