Beauden Barrett hasn’t started a Test all year. He missed the first six and got a bench run in Baltimore. On Saturday at Eden Park he starts, at fullback.
Richie Mo’unga tore his calf at training on Tuesday. Everyone expected Beauden at 10. Dave Rennie moved Damian McKenzie from 15 to 10 instead, and named a bench with no specialist lock.
Rennie named his All Blacks team on Thursday 8 October for the Bledisloe Cup opener against the Wallabies at Eden Park on Saturday 10 October (7.10pm NZT). Codie Taylor captains. Scott Barrett is back at lock.
Right call, or should Beauden have had the 10 shirt? Tell us in the comments.
The swap nobody called
McKenzie has been Rennie’s first-choice fullback. By the Herald’s count, Saturday is only the 11th time in an 81-Test career that he has been picked in the 10 shirt.
Rennie wants McKenzie closer to the action, as RNZ put it. Beauden wins his 146th cap at 15.
Here’s how I read it. McKenzie has spent all year running at the line from 15. At 10 he gets the ball earlier and flatter, closer to the gaps he’s been hitting from deep. Put Beauden behind him and the All Blacks have two long kickers in the backfield when the Wallabies kick deep.
Why the uncapped 10 sat out
Josh Jacomb, the squad’s one other specialist No.10, has no Test caps and misses the 23. Rennie went with experience. Saturday carries too much: Eden Park unbeaten in 53 Tests since 1994, and one win keeps the Bledisloe Cup for another year.
READ ALSO: Rennie picked Mo’unga for Baltimore weeks in advance. Now he’s out of both Bledisloe Tests
Two gambles: no cover at 10, no lock on the bench
That choice has a price. Beauden is now the only cover at 10. One injury and the fullback runs the game, and the back three reshuffles mid-Test.
The bench has three front-rowers, then Shannon Frizell and Anton Segner for the back row, then Kyle Preston, Rieko Ioane and Josh Moorby. No specialist lock.
RNZ expects Tupou Vaa’i, who starts at 6, to move into the second row in the second half if Scott Barrett tires after so long out. That leaves Frizell and Segner to finish the back row.
“We have huge respect for this Australian side and the way they have been playing,” Rennie said. “We know we’ll need to be at our best.”
He means it. The Wallabies beat the Springboks 42-38 in Perth.
A pack built on comebacks
Scott Barrett partners Josh Lord at lock. It’s his first Test since November 2025, and only his third match of any kind in nearly 12 months.
He’s 32 and has about 90 minutes of NPC rugby for Taranaki behind him after back surgery. Fabian Holland misses the 23. It’s also Barrett’s first Test since he lost the All Blacks captaincy. His Crusaders backs coach, James Marshall, calls him one of New Zealand’s most underrated players.
Ardie Savea (shoulder) and Luke Jacobson (elbow) are out, so Peter Lakai starts at 7 and Wallace Sititi at 8.
Shannon Frizell, 32, is among the reserves. A run off the bench would be his first Test since the Springboks won the 2023 World Cup final in Paris.
The All Blacks team in full
Test caps before Saturday.
- Starting XV: Beauden Barrett 145; Will Jordan 61, Quinn Tupaea 29, Jordie Barrett 85, Leroy Carter 10; Damian McKenzie 81, Cam Roigard 24; Wallace Sititi 23, Peter Lakai 14, Tupou Vaa’i 51; Josh Lord 17, Scott Barrett 89; Fletcher Newell 41, Codie Taylor (captain) 112, Ethan de Groot 45.
- Reserves: Asafo Aumua 26, George Bower 29, Pasilio Tosi 17, Shannon Frizell 33, Anton Segner 2, Kyle Preston 5, Rieko Ioane 89, Josh Moorby 5.
- Unavailable (injured): Richie Mo’unga, Ruben Love, Ardie Savea, Luke Jacobson, Patrick Tuipulotu, Fehi Fineanganofo, Anton Lienert-Brown, Billy Proctor, Caleb Clarke, Ollie Norris.
How the injury list got this long: nine All Blacks went home hurt from the Springboks series.
Mo’unga misses Sydney too. Does McKenzie keep the 10?
NZ Rugby has ruled Mo’unga out of both Bledisloe Tests, so he misses the Sydney Test on 17 October as well. My bet: if McKenzie runs Eden Park well, the 10 shirt is his for Sydney. If he doesn’t, Jacomb could finally get his first cap.
