New Zealand coach, Scott Robertson, has added some much-needed leadership to the All Blacks starting line-up for Saturday’s Rugby Championship match against the Springboks at Ellis Park.
Crucially for Robertson is the availability of regular captain Scott Barrett. He’s back from injury and takes his place in the second row alongside Tupou Vaa’i. Barrett took over the captaincy from Sam Cane and, coincidently, the former skipper has also been selected in the starting fifteen to make his first start since the Rugby World Cup final.
Cane was red carded early in the final against South Africa in Paris and now gets his chance at redemption. He joins Ardie Savea and Ethan Blackadder in the loose trio. The 32-year-old will earn his 97th cap for New Zealand, edging one step closer to the century mark having already announced that the 2024 season will be his last in Test rugby. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.