All Blacks team named for thrid australia test,,,

The All Blacks team to play Australia in the third Test against Australia at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, on Saturday 20 October has been named.
 

The team is as follows: (with Test caps in brackets)

Starting XV:

1.            Tony Woodcock (91)
2.            Keven Mealamu (99)
3.            Charlie Faumuina (3)
4.            Brodie Retallick (9)
5.            Samuel Whitelock (34)
6.            Liam Messam (16)
7.            Richie McCaw - captain (112)
8.            Kieran Read (44)
9.            Aaron Smith (9)
10.          Daniel Carter (91)
11.          Hosea Gear (12)
12.          Ma'a Nonu (72)
13.          Conrad Smith (62)
14.          Cory Jane (37)
15.          Israel Dagg (21)

Reserves:

16.          Andrew Hore (71)
17.          Owen Franks (40)
18.          Luke Romano (7)
19.          Victor Vito (16)
20.          Piri Weepu (65)
21.          Aaron Cruden (17)
22.          Ben Smith (8)

The highlight of the team announcement is the naming of hooker Keven Mealamu, who will start in what will be his 100th Test for the All Blacks.  33-year-old Mealamu, who has captained the All Blacks in three Tests, is just the third All Black to reach the distinguished milestone, following captain Richie McCaw and fullback Mils Muliaina who played their 100th Tests during last year's Rugby World Cup.

All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said: "On behalf of the All Blacks players and management, I want to congratulate Keven on reaching this very special milestone.  'Kevvy' is a hugely respected man, not only in the All Blacks and New Zealand rugby but also in his wider community; he is a key leader in the team and one of the true gentlemen of New Zealand rugby.  I know his family are extremely proud of him and so is his All Blacks family."

Commenting on the upcoming Test, Hansen added: "Playing Australia in Brisbane represents another great challenge for the team and one which we are looking forward to.  We have prepared well so far for the Test and, as always, the challenge for the team is not only the opposition, but also meeting our own expectations when it comes to the standard of our performance.  Australia sees Suncorp Stadium as their fortress which only enhances the challenge from our point of view."

As well as Mealamu, the starting XV features just one other change from that which started the last Test of the Investec Rugby Championship against South Africa 12 days ago, with prop Charlie Faumuina getting his first Test start, coming in for Owen Franks who moves to the bench.

Other changes on the bench from the South Africa Test see Andrew Hore at reserve hooker;  Victor Vito comes in for Adam Thomson as loose forward cover; while Ben Smith replaces Tamati Ellison in the outside back reserve jersey.

Meanwhile, the All Blacks will take a travelling squad of 26 to Brisbane for the Test, with Ellison, Julian Savea, Ben Franks and Sam Cane joining the match-day 22. Thomson and prop Wyatt Crockett will stay in New Zealand and will be available to play for their respective ITM Cup sides in the competition semifinals this weekend.

Keven Mealamu - biography

Keven Filipo Mealamu was born in the Waikato town of Tokoroa in 1979 and after playing for New Zealand schoolboy sides, made his provincial debut in 1999, his Super Rugby debut in 2000 and All Blacks debut against Wales in 2002. He has captained the All Blacks three times - against Scotland in 2008, in South Africa last year and against Japan at RWC2011. He has scored 12 tries in the All Blacks jersey and played all the major rugby-playing nations in his career, including 15 Tests each against Australia and South Africa and has been on the winning Test side on 85 occasions for an 85.9 percent winning record. Mealamu made his 93rd Test match start as a hooker and achieved his 80th victory in the first Test against Australia this year - setting new records by a hooker in international rugby. He is New Zealand's most capped Super Rugby player with 143 appearances and also the Blues most capped player with 132 to date.

All Blacks look ridiculously strong for the thrid test, testemant to the NZRUs fantastic rugby mangement and NZs quality depth and one of the reasons why theres only one trophy missing from the rugby cabinet.

our form is wicked strong and many of these players are the form players in the world or near abouts, the last Bok test in their backyard proved as much IMO and while it took a while to gain control of the game, once we did the outcome and the margin was almost spot on to my prediction.
this time round im expecting more or less the same, as the weather reports are saying that its been great conditions all week up in brizzy, and as the pumas and the Boks found out the hard way, great running conditions are a powerful enemy when facing the All Blacks.

jeebers, i really hope the All Blacks dont feel the same way i do, cos that level of complacency could be the death of the All Blacks 2012 100% winning record, LMAO, but the boys are proffesional through and through and theres enough experience to get on with the job and not take anything for granted like their fans already have, myself included.

will be interesting to see how the All Blacks fare now that they have sold a part of the All Blacks jeresys soul to AIG, according to AIG its the most lucrative sponorship in rugby and i would like to think so, cos theres a reason why the All Blacks play in san sirro against italy and not anyone else, or why the All Blacks play the Boks in soccer city but not really anyone else, or even the wallabies at the MCG, cos the All Blacks can either sell them out, or come pretty damn close.

good luck in ur 100th test kev and lets keep this world record streak and 100% winning percentage in 2012 going hard boys and most of all,,,,,

GO THE MIGHTY MIGHTY ALL BLACKS!!!
 

 Some younger players as well

3.            Charlie Faumuina (3)
4.            Brodie Retallick (9)
5.            Samuel Whitelock (34)
6.            Liam Messam (16)

Is Charlie Faumuina from the Chiefs, I remember seeing a new prop playing for them. 

Liam Messam had a very good test against South Africa in Soweto. He was very evasive and hard to pull down. Whitelock also looked pretty good especially that try he scored on the wing.

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Personally I would rather the boks played the All Blacks at sea level. The boks generally play better against touring teams on the highveld, but the hard fast pitches of the highveld suit the All black style of play more than the softer ground at sea level. The All Blacks can throw the ball around more on the highveld and this negates our strength of having bigger forwards than the All Blacks. We like to have more set pieces and mauling drives to use our power. The All blacks are better at passing where we like to get our big ball carriers to try dominate the advantage line

Ellis Park is good, but Soweto holds more seats than any other stadium in SA I believe. 

@sharkbok,
nah, chalie faumuina is a blues man, probably picked for the blues synergy with woody and kev.

not sure who ur thinking of from the chiefs, but if its the young big boy with the crazy hair designs, then thats ben taumafuina who was earlier in the year picked in the june test series All Blacks squad and according to his teammates, a damn near immovable object who can use his 145kgs to devestating effect, like coonie hes remarkably mobile for a big man.
or u could be talking about ben afeaki, who has a man mountain beared, a great player that was struck down earlier in the year with injury, another power house of chiefs rugby and many in NZ feel its only a matter of time before hes an All Black.
problem with both these guys is that they are tight heads, IMO with taumalolo gone to perpigan, they need one of them to adjust to the loosehead for not only the sake of the chiefs, but NZ rugby as a whole, we have tight heads coming out the wazooo, but bugger all top quality loose heads.
ben taumafuina would be better served trying to apply his trade at loosehead, i see him being very similar to connie.
 

 @ shark bok. I think the chiefs player you may be thinking about is Ben Tameifuna.   He's an exciting prospect too.  

 I hope the AB's never cap Ben Tameifuna unless he learns to channel his aggression to good hard play (ala Richie McCaw) and not to thuggery. AB's are generally gentlemen and they play the game in a good spirit. Very professional. Tameifuna is a thug. He was always involved in roughing the Saders players up in the Semi of Super 15. He and Taumelolo are toxic for each other and it started rubbing of on Messam who luckily managed to control himself.

I reckon Taumeifuna will mature because I think he is still pretty young?? I could be wrong. He is definately a big unit and a big talent but he needs to leave the physical, thug shit out and just do what he is good at. Play hard rugger. 

Please dont see this as a dig at a kiwi player, I really think he is good but this constant scuffle he introduces would have no place in a Black jersey. They too professional for that. Richie gets smacked at least 5 times each game (some cheap shots) but you dont notice because he doesnt react. Imagine Tameifuna. Would look like a bar fight every breakdown...

Sydney - Wallabies assistant coach Nick Scrivener has declared the All Blacks eminently 'vulnerable' for Saturday's Test against Australia.

According to stuff.co.nz website, amid a prevailing view the Wallabies in their injury-hit state cannot challenge the dominance of the world champions, Scrivener said the All Blacks were too 'comfortable' to be unbeatable.

'They've had limited disruption with their personnel, they're very comfortable with how they play,' he said. 'We definitely have identified areas where we think we can go and play with pressure and those points are going to be very important. Where we apply that pressure we've just got to play well.'

The Wallabies' victory against Argentina in Rosario 12 days ago provided a much-needed morale boost for the group, many of whom received late call-ups to the squad.

But the ball-handling chaos wrought by high humidity that same night sent a shiver up the spines of many supporters who know ball control is the key to trumping a side as unforgiving as the All Blacks.

Scrivener acknowledged the need for the Wallabies to pull together a complete performance in the final trans-Tasman Test.

'We've done well in all parts of our game [at different times], we've just got to put them together,' he said.

'We're confident in games, we're not scoring tries but we're putting pressure on opposition to make mistakes and give penalties away. We're getting access through penalty goals and all those sorts of things, but definitely one area of our game is to get flow and tempo back ... We won't be sticking out the jumper for 80 minutes this week that's for sure.'

Aggression and physicality were an area, Scrivener said, in which the Wallabies proved their mettle during the Rugby Championship. (I have been reasonably impressed with their pack so look  forward to seeing how they go)

The return of No 8 Wycliff Palu to the back row, alongside blindside breakaway Scott Higginbotham and second-rower Sitaleki Timani, will give the Wallabies' pack further grunt this weekend.

'To large degrees I think that's actually served us well, that area of the game, over the last two weeks,' Scrivener said.

'Look at those games we were behind when we came back, upping the physical side of things brought us back into the game [and] certainly last week you look at the Argentina game and how physical they are, I thought the way we started that game - very, very physically - was a strong part of our game. So we're not shying away from that, we actually see that when we do that well it's a strength of ours.'

There were a few around the Wallabies yesterday who thought the squad's mental game needed bolstering. Former Wallabies Geoff Shaw and Tony Shaw, who were in the 1979 team that won back the Bledisloe for the first time in decades, said hunger and a refusal to be dominated was the key to beating the Kiwis.

'It's a couple of inches up the top of the scone that wins [Tests],' Tony Shaw said. 'There needs to be a burning desire at every stage to win every game and to win every contest. I think it's really important that we engender that. The players themselves, it's got to come from them.'
 

Geoff Shaw said the Wallabies needed to make sure they 'played against' the All Blacks and did not just stand back and marvel at the spectacle.

'You spend time watching other teams, not playing against other teams,' Shaw said. 'You wait for them to produce what they're supposed to produce at a higher level ... the dominance of a team can be fairly overpowering.'

Go wobblies lets break this ab myth and any possibility of an undeserving record run  by this average abs outfit. I know there are a lot of injuries etc but the abs are not tha thot as we showed in Dunedin with a very new side. Kick your goals of course andyou can give them a grea tkick in the butt!!!

Sorry you have to have Craig Joubert as ref. He can ref decently if he wants to so I am hoping he will not repeat his world cup final fiasco.

@boklogic,

im pretty sure ur not thinking of the right guy, cos ben taumfuina hasnt had any issues of thuggery on the rugby field.

could u be referring to maybe sona taumalolo who when a lineout was awarded in the chiefs vs crusaders game shoved McCaw in the back???

i do agree that thuggery needs to be addressed in some players though, like ezebeth who let his teammates down with his attempetd head butt on sharpie and who paid the price??? his teammates did when his services could have been the straw to break the All blacks back in the dunedin test the following week.
but as we all know, the All Blacks true to their class rose above the occassion and won the match proving that it takes a lot more then playing then the All Blacks to beat the All Blacks, and Lord show mercy when the All Blacks play better, cos the All Blacks wont as proven in the le platt and soccerr city 2012 massacres.

A very settled team ......no flavour of the day youngsters, who have hardly played S15. The benching of Franks is interesting though. Any ideas on this change?

@ben10,

that article is stupid, complacency is an issue, especially when the rugby world champions are on a streak which could rewrite the history books, but All Blacks dont play the complacency game.

there were many articles posted here about how the All Blacks would be too comfortable entering into the last IRC match against the Boks at soccer city and coupled with mighty roars about what the Boks were going to do to the All Blacks then, and errrrrr what happened in that match??? :oP

this is a typical mind game comment from nick who had one too many screwdrvers and while the All Black fans arrogantly yawn and swat it away like a pesky mosquito, the All Blacks will barely even notice it as they are already in batte mode ready to defend the legacy of the,,,,,,,,

MIGHTY MIGHTY ALL BLACKS!!!

@mozart,

charlie faumuina has been in real good form for the All Blacks and the blues, but unfortunately for him hes competing against owen franks for the No3 and franks is IMO the worlds best tighthead at the moment, so its been natural too charlie playing second fiddle til now.
the selection is still a surprise though, cos while the wallabies are going through a major red cross injury crisis, they like the Boks are still grade A level threats and we have a real smooth run on the EOYT which has been regarded already as money in the bank and they would have been great opportunities for charlie to play 1st string, while threowen plays 2nd fiddle and starts recharging his batteries for the 2013 season.

the blues combination might also play apart, as kev on his 100th test gets his auckland teammates woodcock and charlie with him too to help get this importnat victory for NZ.

@mozart,

charlie faumuina has been in real good form for the All Blacks and the blues, but unfortunately for him hes competing against owen franks for the No3 and franks is IMO the worlds best tighthead at the moment, so its been natural too charlie playing second fiddle til now.
the selection is still a surprise though, cos while the wallabies are going through a major red cross injury crisis, they like the Boks are still grade A level threats and we have a real smooth run on the EOYT which has been regarded already as money in the bank and they would have been great opportunities for charlie to play 1st string, while threowen plays 2nd fiddle and starts recharging his batteries for the 2013 season.

the blues combination might also play apart, as kev on his 100th test gets his auckland teammates woodcock and charlie with him too to help get this importnat victory for NZ.

Thanks sasu. It's still a bit of a puzzle though. I agree Franks is the class tighthead in the game, so with this win sequence going, I'm surprised to see him not start. It strikes one as a bit sentimental. And even if the Aussies are unlikely winners, stranger things have happened in sport, especially when the opponent isn't fully respected.

should be good test. NZ AB wont be underestimating the wallabies they will treat this like it was the first Bledisloe test. Wallabies who have been put down, and wounded become very dangerous and can pull anything off AB will not forget Hong Kong. Mealamus 100th test will add a lot of power to the AB performance. No mean feat.