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All Blacks reveal 33-man Rugby World Cup squad to head to France
By Ben Smith
The All Blacks have named their 33-man squad to head to France for the 2023 Rugby World Cup with a split of 18 forwards and 15 backs.
New Zealand Rugby chair Dame Patsy Reddy introduced former captain Richie McCaw to announce the squad in Hawkes' Bay in front of a packed local audience at Pettigrew Green arena in Napier.
Captain Sam Cane will lead Ian Foster's side as they chase a fourth World Cup title in the side's history.
The squad was largely similar to the Rugby Championship squad but recent All Black debutants Shaun Stevenson, Samipeni Finau and Dallas McLeod missed out on final selection. Josh Lord, who started against Argentina, was not named as they opted against extra lock cover despite concerns for Brodie Retallick.
Injury seems to have struck down Crusaders centre Braydon Ennor while one of the big surprises was the return of David Havili who completed a return to action for Tasman over the weekend.
The big surprise was Chiefs winger Emoni Narawa who made the final cut after his debut against Argentina a month ago. The 24-year-old has been battling a back issue since his first Test.
Despite coming under an injury cloud, lock Brodie Retallick has been named to attend his third Rugby World Cup alongside Sam Whitelock, Scott Barrett and Tupou Vaa'i in the second row.
Retallick is expected to be sidelined for four-to-six weeks which would see him miss the first two pool games.
With two extra squad spots available the All Blacks used them on an extra prop, taking the position total to six, and they named three first fives after only using two in 2019.
Joe Moody failed to return to fitness so the selectors went with starters Ethan de Groot and Tyrel Lomax, young props Fletcher Newell and Tamaiti Williams, and veterans Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Nepo Laulala.
Beauden Barrett, Richie Mo'unga and Damian McKenzie are the No 10s named but Barrett is likely to be used as a fullback. The outside backs were able to be boosted by the addition of Narawa as a result.
Neither Brad Weber or Folau Fakatava were able to displace Cam Roigard, Finlay Christie or Aaron Smith, who are the three No 9s selected.
They will open their campaign on September 8 with a blockbuster clash against home nation France, who recently fell below New Zealand in World Rugby's men's rankings.
The All Blacks will have one final hit out on August 25 against the Springboks at Twickenham before their campaign.
All Blacks Rugby World Cup squad:
Hookers (3): Dane Coles (Hurricanes), Samisoni Taukei'aho (Chiefs) Codie Taylor (Crusaders)
Props (6): Ethan de Groot (Highlanders), Nepo Laulala (Blues), Tyrel Lomax (Hurricanes), Fletcher Newell (Crusaders), Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Blues), Tamaiti Williams (Crusaders)
Locks (4): Scott Barrett (Crusaders), Brodie Retallick (Chiefs), Tupou Vaa'i (Chiefs) Sam Whitelock (Crusaders)
Loose forwards (5): Sam Cane (Chiefs) (captain), Shannon Frizell (Highlanders), Luke Jacobson (Chiefs), Dalton Papalii (Blues), Ardie Savea (Hurricanes)
Halfbacks (3): Finlay Christie (Blues), Cam Roigard (Hurricanes), Aaron Smith (Highlanders)
First fives (3): Beauden Barrett (Blues), Damian McKenzie (Chiefs), Richie Mo'unga (Crusaders)
Midfielders (4): Jordie Barrett (Hurricanes), David Havili (Crusaders), Rieko Ioane (Blues), Anton Lienert-Brown (Chiefs)
Outside backs (5): Caleb Clarke (Blues), Leicester Fainga'anuku (Crusaders), Will Jordan (Crusaders), Emoni Narawa (Chiefs), Mark Telea (Blues)
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Latest Comments
Yeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
Go to commentsDan Carter is the leading points scorer and leading points per game person for a player with significant tests. 2s RWC winner and member of the games greatest ever team. It's not even close. The only question of GOAT for rugby is whether McCaw deserves it given Carter's numbers.
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