All Blacks Head Coach Dave Rennie has named his team to play the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday 15 August at 19:00 SAST in the third match of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry presented by Castle Double Malt.
Hooker Codie Taylor returns from injury to captain the All Blacks for the first time in his 110th All Blacks match and first match of the tour. Props Xavier Numia and Tyrel Lomax will also play their first match of the tour.
Six players from the All Blacks team who beat the Sharks 54-0 on Tuesday back up for the Bulls match: lock Josh Lord, loose forward Wallace Sititi, halfbacks Kyle Preston and Cortez Ratima (who are both playing their third game of the tour), midfielder Timoci Tavatavanawai and outside back Emoni Narawa. A total of 14 players named in the 23 to take on the Bulls played in the opening match against the Stormers.
All Blacks: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Leroy Carter, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Josh Moorby, 10 Josh Jacomb, 9 Cortez Ratima, 8 Peter Lakai, 7 Anton Segner, 6 Simon Parker, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Fabian Holland, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor (captain), 1 Xavier Numia. Replacements: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 George Bower, 18 Siale Lauaki, 19 Josh Lord, 20 Wallace Sititi, 21 Kyle Preston, 22 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 23 Emoni Narawa.
