{"id":582373,"date":"2025-11-20T11:04:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T11:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582373\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T11:04:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T11:04:17","slug":"13-changes-as-savea-out-and-ioane-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/582373\/","title":{"rendered":"13 changes as Savea out and Ioane back"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has wielded the axe and made mass changes to his team for their encounter against Wales this weekend.<\/b><\/p>\n

Only Simon Parker and Scott Barrett retain their spots from the 33-19 defeat to England that ended their Grand Slam hopes. Will Jordan also keeps his place in the XV but he shifts from full-back to wing.<\/p>\n

That means Ardie Savea<\/a> has played his last Test of the year with the flanker being omitted from the squad to take on Steve Tandy\u2019s men.<\/p>\n

Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi therefore gets an opportunity at openside flanker with number eight Wallace Sititi the final member of the loose trio.<\/p>\n

As for Jordan\u2019s partners in the back three, Ruben Love finally gets a chance at full-back while Caleb Clarke returns following the concussion he suffered against Wales.<\/p>\n

Rieko returns<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there is another new centre partnership in 2025 as Anton Lienert-Brown starts at 12 and he is joined by the returning Rieko Ioane<\/a> at 13, who starts his first match for the All Blacks<\/a> since September.<\/p>\n

There is an all-Chiefs pairing at half-back with Damian McKenzie and Cortez Ratima after Beauden Barrett and Cam Roigard suffered injuries last weekend, albeit both appeared to be available for selection for this weekend.<\/p>\n

Neither of those playmakers are in squad with Finlay Christie providing the scrum-half cover while Love can shift from 15 to 10 should McKenzie suffer an injury.<\/p>\n

Sir John Kirwan: Scott Robertson\u2019s All Blacks are just not good enough and it\u2019s really upsetting me<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Up front, Fabian Holland has recovered from illness to partner captain Barrett while Robertson has opted to start his powerhouse front-row in Tamaiti Williams, Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho and Pasilio Tosi.<\/p>\n

Although Fletcher Newell remains in the 23, Ethan de Groot and Codie Taylor do not as George Bell and George Bower are handed an opportunity.<\/p>\n

Josh Lord and Christian Lio-Willie provide the other forward cover with Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku and Sevu Reece completing the squad as the backline replacements alongside Christie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot to play for this weekend \u2013 we want to put on a performance that reflects the effort and pride we have put in, and that is a fitting farewell to Jason, Robbo and Coops [Assistant Coach Jason Holland; NZR CEO Mark Robinson and NZR President Matthew Cooper],\u201d Robertson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not underestimate the passion and resolve that Wales will bring and we know how organised, accurate and ruthless we need to be in return.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks team to face Wales<\/p>\n

All Blacks:<\/b> 15 Ruben Love, 14 Will Jordan, 13\u202fRieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Damian McKenzie, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Wallace Sititi, 7\u202fDu\u2019Plessis Kirifi, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Fabian Holland, 4\u202fScott Barrett (c), 3 Pasilio Tosi, 2 Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho, 1 Tamaiti Williams
Replacements:<\/strong> 16 George Bell, 17 George Bower, 18 Fletcher Newell,\u202f19 Josh Lord, 20 Christian Lio-Willie, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku, 23 Sevu Reece<\/p>\n

Date:<\/b> Saturday, November 22
Venue:<\/b> Principality Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off:<\/b> 15:10 GMT (04:10 NZDT)
Referee:<\/b> Hollie Davidson (SRU)
Assistant referees:<\/b> Andrea Piardi (FIR), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO:<\/b> Ian Tempest (RFU)
FPRO:<\/b> Matteo Liperini (FIR)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Justin Marshall berates All Blacks for lack of Springboks-esque \u2018innovation\u2019 after \u2018banging the drum\u2019 for the Bomb Squad<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson has wielded the axe and made mass changes to his team for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4102],"tags":[225,90462,704,12,4151,79,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-582373","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-home-page","9":"tag-internationals","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-rugby","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115581699008402665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}