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Dave Rennie has stopped rotating and started selecting. The All Blacks head coach has named a side for Tuesday's Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour fixture against the Sharks at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban that reads less like a mid-tour development exercise and more like a statement of intent — and the Sharks, missing a stack of Springboks still on their way back from Buenos Aires, are going to feel every bit of it.
Jacobson Named All Blacks Captain
Luke Jacobson leads the side for the first time, handed the All Blacks captaincy by Rennie in what is a deserved milestone for the Chiefs loose forward. Rennie was direct about the decision: 'Luke is the obvious choice to captain the team. He's highly respected, has a great feel for the game and will lead through his actions.' Jacobson has been a fixture in Rennie's XVs since the head coach took charge, and a purple patch in recent months has only strengthened that bond. He packs down at openside in a back row that also includes Tupou Vaa'i and number eight Wallace Sititi — a unit that will cause serious problems for any side, let alone an understrength Sharks outfit.
Key Players Return to Squad
The big guns are back. Damian McKenzie, Jordie Barrett, Quinn Tupaea, Ruben Love, Fletcher Newell and Ethan de Groot all return after sitting out the 38-21 win over the Stormers in Cape Town. Seven players who featured against the Stormers — Sam Darry, Kyle Preston, Asafo Aumua, Caleb Clarke, Ollie Norris, Pasilio Tosi and Ethan Blackadder — earn another opportunity, with Darry, Preston, Aumua and Clarke all moving into the starting XV. Love's return at ten is one of the most intriguing threads in this selection; he and the backline spine will look to build on the foundations laid during the Nations Championship campaign. Keep a close eye on Fehi Fineanganofo on the wing — his Super Rugby Pacific try-scoring form has been electric, and a Test jersey remains genuinely up for grabs.
The bench deserves its own paragraph. Cam Roigard, Tosi, Blackadder, Timoci Tavatavanawai and Emoni Narawa in reserve constitutes a finishing unit that would start for most Test nations. Rennie has wisely given Preston the nine shirt to accumulate meaningful minutes — the Crusaders scrumhalf has been patient, and some observers feel he is unlucky to sit behind Cortez Ratima in the Test pecking order. Keeping Roigard fresh for the closing twenty to twenty-five minutes, when the game opens up, makes complete sense. He is too valuable to the All Blacks' Greatest Rivalry series ambitions to be anything other than carefully managed, and the news that Billy Proctor has been ruled out of the tour with injury serves as a timely reminder of exactly how fragile tour squads can be.