Reece to start for All Blacks

Sevu Reece’s story of redemption will be complete when he wears the No 14 jersey for the All Blacks in Buenos Aires.

The 22-year-old, a controversial selection in the Rugby Championship squad after he was given a discharge without conviction for a domestic assault last year, will make his test debut on the right wing against Argentina on Sunday morning.

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has given punters plenty to digest by naming Reece, and four other uncapped players on the bench, for the championship opener at Jose Amalfitani Stadium.

Let’s start with the Reece selection first.

Had it not been for Irish club Connacht turning their back on him in the wake of the domestic assault case, he could have been lost to New Zealand rugby.

Instead the previously unwanted speed machine was drafted into the Crusaders as injury cover, and quickly proved a sensation by bagging 15 tries to be Super Rugby’s top try scorer in 2019.

The All Blacks selectors pounced. Now Reece has been given his first chance to inch closer to the 31-man squad for the World Cup in Japan. There is no escaping the fact that Reece’s inclusion is not universally popular, and the public debate that followed hasn’t lacked heat.

For Hansen, the need to see whether Reece can handle the pressure of a test meant he had to play in Buenos Aires.

‘‘As the season has gone on, he has just got better and better as a player. And as a person,’’ Hansen said. ‘‘We got interested enough to say ‘hey we need to keep looking at this guy’.

‘‘And then it got past that point and we said ‘look, we are going to need to pick him’.

‘‘Now we want to find out if he can take that next step. This game is the logical game to play him in.’’

The inclusion of Jordie Barrett on the left wing will be his first start there in a test. Reece on the other flank and centre/wing Braydon Ennor on the bench means George Bridge, who made his only test appearance against Japan in Tokyo in November, has been squeezed out of the match day 23.

Because Bridge had been involved with the Crusaders for a longer period, Hansen said the national coaches were already familiar with what he could offer.

With eight fit players from the Crusaders, including skipper Kieran Read, left at home to prepare for the test against South Africa in Wellington next weekend the side named to start against the Pumas is largely a second-string lineup.

This is reflected in uncapped loosehead prop Atu Moli, loose forward Luke Jacobson, first fiveeighth Josh Ioane and Ennor being in the reserves.

Sonny Bill Williams, who has been struggling with a tight hamstring, won’t be risked which means Ngani Laumape starts at No 12. Hansen said Laumape had been assisting playmaker Beauden Barrett by being more vocal, one of the skills he was asked to upgrade over the past 12 months, at trainings this week.

‘‘So it will be interesting how well he does it on the park under the pressure of the game,’’ Hansen said in reference to Laumape.