The 31-man All Blacks squad to travel to South Africa for the Investec Rugby Championship Test against South Africa has been named.
The squad flies out to South Africa this morning, stopping over in Sydney before arriving in Johannesburg on Sunday evening. The All Blacks play South Africa at Emirates Airline (formerly Ellis) Park on Saturday 25 July.
All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said: “In deciding on the squad to travel to South Africa, the selectors based their selections on three criteria. Firstly, we have picked experienced players who are well aware of the challenge of playing South Africa at home. Secondly, we want to give some other players the opportunity to see how they cope under the extreme pressure of playing South Africa; and thirdly, we took into consideration the fact that some players in the squad could do with having a break for various reasons, so they will be staying home to freshen up.”
The travelling squad is as follows
Hookers: Dane Coles, Keven Mealamu and Codie Taylor
Props: Wyatt Crockett, Ben Franks, Owen Franks, Nepo Laulala and Tony Woodcock
Locks: James Broadhurst, Brodie Retallick, Luke Romano and Samuel Whitelock
Loose forwards: Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw, Liam Messam, Kieran Read and Victor Vito
Halfbacks: Andy Ellis, TJ Perenara and Aaron Smith
First five–eighths: Beauden Barrett, Colin Slade and Lima Sopoaga
Midfielders: Ryan Crotty, Malakai Fekitoa, Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith
Outside backs: Israel Dagg, Charles Piutau, Julian Savea and Ben Smith
All players who are remaining in New Zealand will be given individual training programmes to work on and will reassemble with the rest of squad in August and be available for selection for the Bledisloe Cup Tests.
