All Blacks to play France in New Plymouth named.

All Blacks to play France in New Plymouth named.

allblacks.com    20.Jun.2013

Three new caps named on the bench

The All Blacks team to play France in the third and final Test of the Steinlager Series has been named.

The team is as follows: (with Test caps in brackets. * denotes a new cap)

Starting XV:

1. Wyatt Crockett (13)
2. Andrew Hore (75)
3. Owen Franks (46)
4. Luke Romano (13)
5. Samuel Whitelock (40)
6. Victor Vito (21)
7. Sam Cane (6)
8. Kieran Read - captain (50)
9. Piri Weepu (70)
10. Daniel Carter (94)
11. Rene Ranger (5)
12. Ma’a Nonu (78)
13. Conrad Smith (68)
14. Ben Smith (14)
15. Israel Dagg (27)

Reserves:
16. Keven Mealamu (103)
17. Tony Woodcock (97)
18. Ben Franks (25)
19. Steven Luatua *
20. Matt Todd *
21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow (3)
22. Beauden Barrett (7)
23. Charles Piutau *

The 23-man squad features five personnel changes – one due to injury - from that which played in last week’s 30–0 Series–winning Test against France in Christchurch.

In the backs, Piri Weepu gets a start at halfback with Tawera Kerr–Barlow coming onto the bench; a fit–again Daniel Carter comes in for Aaron Cruden who is getting a much–needed rest; and Rene Ranger gets his first start of the Steinlager Series after two cameos off the bench, with Charles Piutau coming into the match day 23 to cover the outside backs.

In the forwards, Victor Vito comes off the bench to get his first start in 2013 allowing Matt Todd an opportunity to come onto the bench. While the starting locks remain the same, Steven Luatua comes onto the bench to cover both lock and the number six position. Meanwhile, in the front row, Dane Coles has suffered a calf strain and was unavailable for selection. He has been replaced in the starting XV by Andrew Hore with Keven Mealamu coming in as reserve hooker.

All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said: “While the Steinlager Series has been won, we certainly won’t be underestimating the French in this final match. We have put a full stop in last weekend’s performance and expecting further improvement from ourselves, and another hard, physical contest from the French.

“However, we are committed to continue building the depth in our squad and introducing new players to Test match rugby, hence why we have selected the team we have.”

Milestones
• This weekend’s Steinlager Series test is a sellout, with the last of the 23,300 tickets snapped up last week. The All Blacks have played France 53 times since 1906, with 40 wins to the All Blacks, 12 wins to France and the one draw. The All Blacks have played at Yarrow Stadium twice in recent years, against Samoa in 2008 and Ireland in 2010. New Plymouth also hosted three matches in Rugby World Cup 2011. France last played in New Plymouth on their 1984 tour beating Taranaki 30-18.

• The All Blacks most capped midfield combination, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith, played their 45th Test together last weekend and have headed England’s Will Carling and Jeremy Guscott as the second most capped midfield partnership in international rugby. Ireland’s Brian O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy hold the record with 50 Tests together.

• Meanwhile, New Plymouth’s Yarrow Stadium has been a happy hunting ground for Smith – he scored two tries each time in the Tests against Samoa and Ireland.

THANK YOU STEVEN HANSEN, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!! :oD

i am super duper uber stoked with the selections hansen has made for test 3 and i now have a huge hansen crush (excuse me while i fan myself) o_o,

first of congrats on the Blue power ranger getting his first start as the Black power ranger, i hope as the ref blows the kick off kerean read screams out release the kraken, that way the frenchies at least have a chance, they are our guests after all.

very happy to see luatua named on the bench, though i wish it was for loose forward cover, i think hes wasted at lock IMO.
but those considerations are then easily compensated with the latest inclusion to the All Black family in matt todd, congrats matty, :o)

as for having piutau on the bench, my man crush on hansen has just tripled in intensity (fanning my face once more), o_O
good luck to the other new debutant mr pew pew piutau, hes going to be freaking awesome, :o)

thanx hansen &
GO THE MIGHTY MIGHTY ALL BLACKS!!!

french team to play the All Blacks and the link for the article,,,
www.allblacks.com/news/22550/Changes-for-France-as-better-effort-sought

1.Thomas Domingo, 2.Benjamin Kayser, 3.Nicolas Mas, 4.Alexandre Flanquart, 5.Yoann Maestri, 6.Thierry Dusautoir, 7.Damien Chouly, 8.Antonie Claassen, 9.Jean Marc Doussain, 10.Remi Tales, 11.Yoann Huget, 12.Wesley Fofana, 13.Florian Fritz, 14.Marc Andreu, 15.Brice Dulin.
Reserves: 16.Dimitri Szarzewski, 17.Eddy Ben Arous, 18.Luc Ducalcon, 19.Sebastian Vahaamahina, 20.Bernard Le Roux, 21.Maxime Machenaud, 22.Camille Lopez, 23.Mathieu Bastareaud.

fofana who i think rooy gave us a heads up on has definately lived up to the hype, the dude is an excitment machine, a very elusive runner and his mid filed partner fritz is somebody who deserves a big ups too, hes been awesome for the frenchies, a nice powerful center.

pinocchio and michilak aho are injured are big losses, michilak was crap last week, but hes still a class player and his presence will be missed, but the loss of No8 picamoles is the biggest loss, IMO hes been les bleus best player of the tour.

i agree mike.....hansen is a proven coach and he is just building on the foundation that henry left behind. the addition of the new starters will be the final nail in the coffin for the frenchies. vito and ranger add a lot of range to the attack and carter well is just carter....will add his masterfull skills to the AB side. i reckon this test might turn ugly for the french

@mikey,

im very happy with the team selections, but my high spirits have been dampened a bit since i found out that rnager will be leaving with montipellier at the end of the year.
apparently ranger tried to get out of his agreement which was sorted last year, ater realising the form he was in at the moment was a sure fire way of becoming an All Black incumbent and i agree too, IMO ranger is the best back in the world by a country mile, theres a oceans of a gap between him and whoever might be considered 2nd best.
such is life though and All Black opponents can count their lucky stars, cos no one right now would have matched him.
to think all the NZRU had to do was pay off the $300,000 fee and he would have been free.
guess we have to look back at who i thought would be snakes natural successor last year, ben smith, and after this test i dont wantn to see any more time being wasted on ranger, best we use it for someone else.

ur way off about brodie retallick bro, hes injured and as ahnsen said, he was a huge loss but the blow was softened big time with the inclusion of whitelock in the 11th hour last week.
u gotta be needling me about retallick, cos if thats what u think about retallick, then u must have gotten ur hearty broken by lady elizabeth who has failed big time to live up to the hype by the locals.
theres a strong correlation between how well the Boks started to preform against the socttish forwards and when lady elizabeth was subbed, lolz remins of his All Blacks debut where i saw him sin the saffa national anthem, and the next time i saw was when he was getting subbed, :oD

as for cruden, are u needling again, LMAO, dont know what games u watched, but he was awesome, a real threat with ball in hand, IMHO, he did more effective attacking runs in that one game, then every game played by all saffa flyhalves combined in the 2013 spXV and june tests, o_O

im stoked about vito starting, also happy with todds inclusion into the All Blacks family, nice forward thinking from hansen.
my only problem with messam is hes not asserting his presence like he did last year, instead hes falling into patterns like he did in years pass when he just goes missing, :o/
cant fault his defence though cos that was class in both tests, especially the 2nd, but that was across the whole team where it looks like defence got special attention.

and yeah, meyer does have serious problems, he kind of wastes opportunities against lower tier teams to develop the talnet SA has, look at last years EOYT as a perfect example.
like everyone though he wants to win games, so hes p;laying it safe with what are in his opinons a safe bet, not the dumbest considering the upsets samoa have been causing with the plethora of NZ players they have in their team.

I think you may have exaggerated a tad regarding Ranger being the world's best back by a country mile. He may be an awesome runner but as an overall back he needs a lot of work. Then again it seems you kiwis tend to blow everything out of proportion ... so I guess I shoulda expected that.

Apart from the poor hooker, the average lock pair, an injury prone Carter and a full back who's lost his mojo ... not a bad side to face a reshuffled out of form French side. You guys should walk it.

Then again I doubt there's many sides that won't walk this French side this weekend ... so I guess no big deal. Just another practice run.

Luatua and Piutua's call up is great for the All Blacks. They are guys for the future.

Glad to see the useless Cruden dropped for Barrett and Weepu reclaiming his 9 jersey. He's had a cracker of season.

What Mealamu and Woodcock are doing on the bench is beyond me. These two codgers should seriously think about retirement ... much like McCaw should.

The French it seems have given up. A very poor year for them One I reckon they would like to forget as soon as possible.

@cleancut,

lol, blow things out of proportion??? o_O bit like calling the kettle black, saffas here talk there players up like theres no tomorrow and lady elizabeth is a perfect example, cos hes been about as impressive as ane empty bag peanuts, :oP
i rate ranger as the best back by miles, an opion ive only had since this season, ive seen been very critical of ranger in the past but last year i saw signs fo real improvement in his all round and not just attacking game, but i wanted to see if he could repeat that season and he actually surpassed it. i cant think of one back who is better then him at the moment, but i would like to hear ur thought on who u think is.

if the NZ locks are average, then u must downright detest the saffa locks??? or are those green tinted glasses showing u a differnt picture??? LMAO, :oD

dagg has lost his mojo, but he may have found it again after last weeks game, i know he will be valuable against the Boks who seem to bring out his best which is awesome, cos the Boks have shown no answer to counter him.

ur right about woody, hore and mealamu, but IMO they are only there for now, come RWC i dont expect to see any of them around the All Black picture.
was a little disappointed to not see the All Blacks use the hookers the same way they did in the first two tests, with coles starting and having someone experienced like kev and hore on the bench, but the hookers role is something i expect to get sorted next year when ged robinson returns back home to NZ and have a shot at higher honours.

as for cruden, i dont know what ur talking about there bro, hes been just fine, hes no carter but who is, but still a lot better then anything down ur neck of the woods.

i understand how nervous saffas get over McCaw and i dont blame them one bit given how many times our fearless leader have conqured the Boks, so its only natural that saffas will want to see the last of him as soon as possible
but lets face the facts, ur talking about a guy who was an IRB player of the year nominee last year, a nomination that goes with his other 8 nominations and three IEB player of the year titles.
sorry bro, ur going to have to endure the McCaw nightmare just a little bit longer, cos the king of rugby aint done yet, :oD