Chiefs outside back Shaun Stevenson could make his All Blacks debut after being named in the travelling squad which heads to Argentina tomorrow.
A debut is also on the cards for Hurricanes Prop Tevita Mafile'o as the other replacement who will be heading off with the squad for next weekend's Test against the Pumas in Mendoza.
The news comes as All Blacks selectors Ian Foster, Jason Ryan and Joe Schmidt announced that Will Jordan and Leicester Fainga’anuku will both be remaining in New Zealand to recover.
"Fainga’anuku is nursing a calf injury while Jordan is managing a migrainous condition after a busy end to the DHL Super Rugby season," the All Blacks said in a statement this afternoon.
Jordan was affected by migraine-type symptoms this season leading to missed games.
“Will has been going really well but in order to make sure he keeps tracking that way, we’ve decided to withdraw him from the long-haul trip to Argentina,” said Foster.
“This is more of a precautionary measure that we’ve put in place with the bigger picture of 2023 in mind.”
Travelling squad (Name, Age, Club, Province, Test Caps) *new cap
Hookers
Codie Taylor (32, Crusaders / Canterbury, 76)
Dane Coles (36, Hurricanes / Wellington, 84)
Samisoni Taukei’aho (25, Chiefs / Waikato, 24)
Props
Ethan de Groot (24, Highlanders / Southland, 13)
Fletcher Newell (23, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)
Nepo Laulala (31, Blues / Counties Manukau, 45)
Ofa Tu’ungafasi (31, Blues / Northland, 50)
Tamaiti Williams (22, Crusaders / Canterbury) *
Tyrel Lomax (27, Hurricanes / Tasman, 23)
Tevita Mafile'o (25, Hurricanes / Bay of Plenty) *
Locks
Brodie Retallick (32, Chiefs / Hawkes Bay, 100)
Josh Lord (22, Chiefs / Taranaki, 2)
Samuel Whitelock (34, Crusaders / Canterbury, 143)
Scott Barrett (29, Crusaders / Taranaki, 58)
Tupou Vaa’i (23, Chiefs / Taranaki, 18)
Loose forwards
Ardie Savea (29, Hurricanes / Wellington, 70)
Dalton Papali’i (25, Blues / Counties Manukau, 22)
Luke Jacobson (26, Chiefs / Waikato, 12)
Sam Cane (captain) (31, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty, 86)
Samipeni Finau (24, Chiefs / Waikato) *
Shannon Frizell (29, Highlanders / Tasman, 25)
Halfbacks
Aaron Smith (34, Highlanders / Manawatu, 114)
Finlay Christie (27, Blues / Tasman, 14)
Cam Roigard (22, Hurricanes / Counties Manukau) *
First-five eighths
Beauden Barrett (32, Blues / Taranaki, 112)
Damian McKenzie (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 40)
Richie Mo’unga (29, Crusaders / Canterbury, 44)
Midfielders
Anton Lienert-Brown (28, Chiefs / Waikato, 60)
Jordie Barrett (26, Hurricanes / Taranaki, 48)
Rieko Ioane (26, Blues / Auckland, 59)
Braydon Ennor (25, Crusaders / Canterbury, 6)
Dallas McLeod (24, Crusaders / Canterbury) *
Outside backs
Caleb Clarke (24, Blues / Auckland, 15)
Emoni Narawa (23, Chiefs / Bay of Plenty) *
Shaun Stevenson (26, Chiefs / Waikato) *
Mark Telea (26, Blues / North Harbour, 2)
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