Dave Rennie named his All Blacks team for Cape Town on Thursday. Two players are still in HIA protocols, and between them they rearranged three positions in the pack.
Ethan de Groot and Josh Lord did not survive Ellis Park.
Both are still working through head injury assessment protocols, and both were starters in the 33-16 win in Johannesburg. Losing them costs New Zealand a loosehead and a lock in the same week they travel to sea level to face a Springboks pack with a point to prove.
So the forward pack got rebuilt from the middle out. George Bower takes the loose-head jersey. Tupou Vaa’i shifts out of the back row into lock. And that vacancy at six goes to Simon Parker, nine caps old, against the heaviest pack in the game.
Kieran Read named the front row change before it happened, and for the reason nobody else was giving.
The All Blacks team for Cape Town, and the three jerseys that moved
Starters
- George Bower (27 caps)
- Codie Taylor (110)
- Tyrel Lomax (52)
- Fabian Holland (13)
- Tupou Vaa’i (48)
- Simon Parker (9)
- Luke Jacobson (28)
- Ardie Savea (110), captain
- Cam Roigard (21)
- Ruben Love (9)
- Leroy Carter (8)
- Jordie Barrett (82)
- Quinn Tupaea (27)
- Will Jordan (58)
- Damian McKenzie (78)
Reserves
- Asafo Aumua (23)
- Xavier Numia (2)
- Fletcher Newell (38)
- Patrick Tuipulotu (57)
- Peter Lakai (11)
- Kyle Preston (2)
- Anton Lienert-Brown (91)
- Josh Moorby (3)
Read also: the All Blacks scrum at Ellis Park wasn’t out-muscled, it was rushing. Which is why Bower’s promotion is not the straightforward swap it looks.
Bower earned this on the pitch, not on the treatment table
Calling it an injury replacement undersells it. Bower came off the bench at Ellis Park and the scrum stopped going backwards, which is the whole reason his name was already in the conversation before de Groot’s HIA made it academic.
Xavier Numia, two caps, comes into the 23 as prop cover. Patrick Tuipulotu covers lock.
The other forward call is the interesting one. Vaa’i has been playing six. Moving him to five is the tidy answer to Lord’s absence, but it hands a Test start in the loose forwards to a player with nine caps, at sea level, against a pack that spent last Saturday convinced it was winning.
One change in the backs, and it is barely a change
Leroy Carter and Josh Moorby swap. Carter starts on the left wing, Moorby drops to the bench as outside back cover.
That is it. Ruben Love keeps the 10 jersey, Jordie Barrett stays at 12, Damian McKenzie stays at fullback and Ardie Savea captains from the back of the scrum.
Keeping Love is the selection with the most riding on it. He was fault-free in Johannesburg, but Johannesburg is 1,750 metres up, and Handré Pollard is waiting at sea level where the ball does not travel and a kicking duel is decided by contact, not carry.
Match facts worth knowing
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Head to head | 111 Tests. 64 New Zealand wins, 43 Springboks wins, four draws |
| DHL Stadium | Only the second Test the All Blacks have played there. The other ten Cape Town Tests were at Newlands |
| Damian McKenzie | 34th consecutive Test on Saturday |
| Will Jordan | 53 Test tries, level with Rory Underwood in sixth on the all-time list |
| Caps milestone | Codie Taylor and Ardie Savea both on 110 |
Rennie was not selling it as a done job.
“While we were happy with the win last week, I think both teams will be better this weekend,” he said in the team announcement.
“We’ve played four Tests this year and are still growing as a group. I’m really excited about the competition for places and the performances of the squad across the matches here in South Africa.”
Note what he did not say. Nothing about the series being won, and nothing about the 17-point margin.
What happens next
Kick-off is 5.10pm local on Saturday 29 August at DHL Stadium, which is 3.10am on Sunday morning in New Zealand. Live on Sky Sport.
South Africa have not named their side yet.
Read next
- The 23 Rennie picked for Ellis Park. Worth comparing against this one before Saturday.
- How they lost the first hour at Ellis Park and won the Test anyway. The hour that should worry Rennie more than the scoreline reassures him.
- Every fixture, result and kick-off time in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry. 111 Tests, and the full record.
Your turn
Simon Parker has nine caps and starts at six against the Springboks, at sea level, in a Test South Africa have to win. Rennie could have moved Luke Jacobson to six and started Peter Lakai or Tuipulotu instead.
He didn’t. Was that trust in Parker, or the only option once Lord failed his HIA?
