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Twelve All Blacks released from Rugby Championship squad
By Ben Smith
Twelve players in the All Blacks squad for the Rugby Championship have been released to play provincial rugby this weekend, a week before the first Argentina Test.
Most of the players will play before the weekend, with five of the six teams receiving All Blacks playing Bunnings NPC on Friday.
Tasman Mako have been boosted with four key players, David Havili, Will Jordan, Ethan Blackadder and Noah Hotham, who will travel to Christchurch to play Southland.
In the game between two Chiefs-aligned provinces, Taranaki will receive Josh Lord while Bay of Plenty will have former All Black captain Sam Cane and Pasilio Tosi.
Newly capped centre Billy Proctor will line up for Wellington against Manawatu, while Caleb Clarke will play for Auckland against Counties after announcing a new one-year deal with NZR and the Blues.
On Saturday afternoon Ofa Tu'ungafasi will play for Northland against North Harbour, who have All Black rookie Wallace Sititi.
The All Blacks squad will re-assemble on Sunday August 4 at NZCIS in Wellington ahead of the first Test at Sky Stadium on August 10.
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Latest Comments
Who would you have played at 10 with Richie Mo'unga gone and Fergus Burke not available till late in the season ? Scott Barrett hardly played, Sam Whitelock was overseas. There were injuries amongst the replacements. The fairy story that Robertson would have won in this situation is a exactly that a fairy story. We went within a whisker of getting in the play offs late in the season, because we had Fergus Burke, Blackadder others back. Codie Taylor made a big impact when he came back from his sabbatical. Hopefully he will be the captain next year, Codie has had a great season since returning to the Crusaders and for the All Blacks.
Go to commentsEarned a 9.5 with top game overall though Tk while Italians were allowed to crowd breakdown without penalty often. We do have Love with two tries in 4 Test 😎minutes on field!
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