Richie McCaw captains the All Blacks for the 100th time this weekend when they take on Wales, in what is his 137th test match for New Zealand.
Most of the regular first teamers return to the starting line-up, the only slight surprise being the selection of Beauden Barrett at fly-half and Colin Slade as his replacement, with no room in the squad for either Aaron Cruden or Dan Carter.
All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said: “This was a very difficult team to select as we have a lot of players in great form. However, we believe this is the right combination of 23 players to represent the All Blacks and New Zealand very proudly on Saturday.
“It’s always a great occasion to play at Millennium Stadium, which is one of the great stadiums in the world. We have had a good week’s preparation and we are expecting a physical Test with a high ‘ball-in-play’ time. We know we will have to be totally engaged in our own roles for the full 80 minutes and take the game to the Welsh at every opportunity.”
New Zealand team to play Wales:
1. Wyatt Crockett (35)
2. Dane Coles (26)
3. Owen Franks (66)
4. Brodie Retallick (35)
5. Samuel Whitelock (61)
6. Jerome Kaino (55)
7. Richie McCaw – captain (136)
8. Kieran Read (71)
9. Aaron Smith (37)
10. Beauden Barrett (27)
11. Julian Savea (32)
12. Sonny Bill Williams (22)
13. Conrad Smith (84)
14. Charles Piutau (13)
15. Ben Smith (37)
Replacements:
16. Keven Mealamu (122)
17. Joe Moody (7)
18. Charlie Faumuina (26)
19. Patrick Tuipulotu (6)
20. Liam Messam (39)
21. TJ Perenara (10)
22. Colin Slade (16)
23. Ryan Crotty (12)
Almost a full fwd pack (injured Woodcock aside) & back line apart from Piatau @ wing, Money BIll @ centre & Barrett @ 1st 5. Piatau looks strong, aggressive & elusive, but will see if his ‘D’ stands up in enemy territory. Barrett is a positive guy who seems to play without fear, is quicker than some wings (the Saffa, Le Roux, may well think so) & is also elusive. We’ll also see if his ‘D’ holds up as he’s not exactly ‘Gigantor’. Lots of Kiwis love SBW, but I never really trusted him when the chips are down, i.e., when he’s under PRESSURE. Lacks brains, nous about option taking for me… but then, he did look good against the Yanks. So, again, we’ll see. If the AB pack puts Wales under pressure SB will look good, but if they themselves are put under the pump… I’ll have to get me gear on I reckon. ABs by 10? Who knows. Maybe a Welsh backlash?
I want this everytime and will always go for wales to win but I have a sneaking suspicion i have more than blind faith this time round; last game out wales played poor; they only have 2 tests before going into the 6nations so they need to resolve handling errors. When wales play a superior team they have 2 modes; terrible or staunch – we saw terrible last week against a weaker team so Im expecting them to be tough for NZ. Maybe we lose but if we do it’ll be close; but I’m reckoning wales by a small 5 to win.
We’ll know the outcome after the first penalty; if wales play for the posts from range then it’ll go down to the last minute; if they kick for line-out from just inside of halfpenny’s range then they’ll push them for full 80! They need to play for tries this time; not crawl to a 3 pt win