All Blacks rest six for Pumas
Steve Hansen says the lessons of previous years have shown him that strategic handling of his All Blacks squad for the gruelling twogame Rugby Championship road trip is the way to go.
As hinted at on Sunday, and previously, the All Blacks coach has gone with a split squad plan for the remaining two matches of the championship that take in demanding hauls to Argentina and South Africa.
Hansen has confirmed locks Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick, loose forwards Liam Squire and Sam Cane and backs Beauden Barrett and Ryan Crotty – all of whom started Saturday’s record-breaking 57-0 demolition of South Africa – will all miss the match against Argentina in Buenos Aires and travel directly from New Zealand to South Africa for the Cape Town test against the Springboks. They will arrive in the republic ahead of the remainder of the squad,
Three familiar faces also return to the squad for the test against Argentina as the coaches look to manage the workload across a demanding back end of the 2017 season, with loose forwards Jerome Kaino and Matt Todd and lock Patrick Tuipulotu rejoining the All Blacks.
There is also a place for one-test Wellington prop Jeffery To’omaga Allen who last pulled on the black jersey in 2013.
Kaino, who dropped out of the squad to deal with personal issues, and Tuipulotu have been playing in the Mitre 10 Cup with Auckland, while Todd has recovered from a left-hand fracture he picked up playing for Canterbury. To’omaga-Allen has been performing well for Wellington in their charge to the top of the Premiership standings.
A group of players (probably six) will also head home after the Argentina test, with the 22-man squad to join the half-dozen in South Africa to be confirmed following the match.
Hansen said the six players to sit out the Argentina leg had been identified as those most in need of a reduction in travel load.
‘‘We’ve tried to look at how we can keep players a little fresher for this remaining nine weeks where we go around the world twice and play about seven test matches and then have multiple time changes. Last year we found we really struggled,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘The core group we’ll keep together by and large are the guys that haven’t played a lot of rugby this year, and haven’t had a lot of game-time, and that means they probably haven’t travelled as much as some of the other guys as well.
‘‘We’ve had teams go to South Africa twice already this year. We’re just trying to think outside the box.
‘‘If you keep doing what you always do, you get what you always get.
‘‘It puts pressure on us going to Argentina because they’re a good side, and we need to play well to perform there, but we’re confident the group we’re taking should be able to do the job.’’
The squad for the Argentina test still shapes as a strong one, with the All Blacks’ depth such that they can still put out a worldclass lineup, even minus the class of regular starters Retallick, Whitelock, Barrett, Cane and Crotty.
Barrett’s absence for Buenos Aires, and no specialist fill-in, also indicates Damian McKenzie will be used to cover No 10 there, with Tasman’s David Havili a chance to pick up a test debut at fullback.
Meanwhile, replacement players Akira Ioane (Auckland) and Tim Perry (Tasman) will return to their provincial teams, while Nathan Harris (Bay of Plenty) and Kaino will also turn out for their provinces this week.
The All Blacks squad will leave for Argentina out of Auckland on Friday.