All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has named his team to play the DHL Stormers at DHL Stadium, Cape Town, on Friday 7 August in the opening match of the Castle Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour.
Prop Siale Lauaki and inside back Josh Jacomb look set to make their All Blacks debut from the bench, while seven other All Blacks will be making their first appearance in the black jersey this year: forwards Ollie Norris, Fabian Holland, Simon Parker and Ethan Blackadder; and Kyle Preston, Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane in the backs.
Lock Patrick Tuipulotu will captain the All Blacks for the second time after previously captaining the side against Japan in October 2024.
“Firstly, I want to congratulate the new All Blacks Siale and Josh,” said Rennie. “It will be a very exciting and proud day for them and their families.
“We’ve had a great welcome in Cape Town, and we’re excited to get this tour underway.
“We are really pleased with how our leaders, including match day captain Patrick and tour captain Codie, have prepared the group. We can’t wait for Friday.
“We’re well aware of how good this Stormers side is. They made the semifinals of the United Rugby Championship last year and they are a big, physical side with a mix of talented youngsters and Springboks, so we are preparing for a real war of attrition.”
All Blacks match-day 23 (Test caps and non-Test games in brackets; * indicates first All Blacks appearance):
1 George Bower (26, 0)
2 Samisoni Taukei’aho (44, 0)
3 Pasilio Tosi (17, 0)
4 Fabian Holland (12, 0)
5 Patrick Tuipulotu (captain, 57, 2)
6 Simon Parker (8, 0)
7 Peter Lakai (10, 0)
8 Wallace Sititi (21, 0)
9 Cortez Ratima (24, 0)
10 Beauden Barrett (144, 1)
11 Rieko Ioane (88, 0)
12 Anton Lienert-Brown (90, 1)
13 Billy Proctor (13, 0)
14 Leroy Carter (7, 0)
15 Josh Moorby (2, 0)
Replacements:
16 Asafo Aumua (22, 2)
17 Ollie Norris (3, 0)
18 Siale Lauaki *
19 Sam Darry (10, 0)
20 Ethan Blackadder (14, 0)
21 Kyle Preston (1, 0)
22 Josh Jacomb *
23 Caleb Clarke (35, 0)