Sonny Bill Williams and Aaron Cruden have been reunited, this time in the New Zealand team to play Sonny Bill Williams England at Twickenham on Saturday.
The former Chiefs teammates are the major selection decisions made by All Black coach Steve Hansen, who named an extremely experienced team for the second match on their year-end tour.
As expected there are a number of changes, after Hansen gave the less experienced squad members an opportunity against the United States last week - with 13 of the squad from that matchday 23 boosted by the return of some experienced players.
The matchday squad that takes the field against England has 1,029 Test caps between them and an average age of 27 years.
No.8 Kieran Read, flyhalf Cruden, inside centre Williams and fullback Israel Dagg retain their starting spots from the US Test.
Two reserves, lock Brodie Retallick and wing Julian Savea, are back in the starting XV.
Prop Wyatt Crockett joins fellow prop Owen Franks and hooker Dane Coles in the front row; lock Samuel Whitelock is reunited with Retallick in the second row, while All Blacks captain Richie McCaw and No.6 Jerome Kaino are alongside Read in the back row.
Scrumhalf Aaron Smith makes his 11th start of the year inside Cruden, while the All Blacks' most capped centre, Conrad Smith, will partner Williams in the midfield.
Joining Savea and Dagg in the back three is Ben Smith.
The forward reserves are hooker Keven Mealamu, props Ben Franks and Charlie Faumuina, lock Patrick Tuipulotu and loose forward Liam Messam, while the back reserves are scrumhalf TJ Perenara, flyhalf Beauden Barrett and midfielder Ryan Crotty.
"This Test match is a great opportunity to once again experience the atmosphere of Twickenham and to lay down a marker of where we are currently at in relation to our opponents, England," Hansen said.
"We are extremely excited about this challenge and looking forward to it immensely.
"Having played England already three times this year, at the beginning of our season, and again having the opportunity to play them at the end of season, will tell us a lot about how much our game has progressed."
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Patrick Tuipulotu, 20 Liam Messam, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Ryan Crotty.
Date: Saturday, November 8
Venue: Twickenham, London
Kick-off: 14.30 (14.30 GMT; 03.30, Sunday, November 9 NZ time)
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Dudley Phillips (Ireland)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Captain18,570 posts
06 Nov 2014, 07:58
#1
06 Nov 2014, 07:58#1
