All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has described the process of naming a vastly changed line-up, including Test debuts for Samipeni Finau, Shaun Stevenson and Dallas McLeod to play Australia in Dunedin on Saturday, as “exciting”.
Named to start, wing Stevenson and loose forward Finau are two of the many changes to the match-day squad after last weekend’s comprehensive victory in Melbourne which locked up the Bledisloe Cup for another year. Midfielder McLeod has been named on the reserves bench.
With the World Cup looming – the squad of 33 will be named in Napier on Monday – there will be an underlying tension among the newcomers this week alongside the emotions of men such as Aaron Smith, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Nepo Laulala and Dane Coles who will be playing a Test at home for the final time.
Foster hinted that his World Cup squad is all but confirmed, but the back injury to Emoni Narawa which has kept him out of this Test and allowed Stevenson – added to the squad as injury cover – his opportunity is proof that there is still a huge amount at stake on what is a dead Bledisloe Cup rubber.
Also, the news, confirmed today by Foster, that Ethan Blackadder has recently injured a calf muscle to go along with the quadriceps injury that kept him out of the Rugby Championship squad could be a World Cup lifeline for Finau.
“It feels quite exciting,” Foster said of his line-up.
“It does. We don’t do a lot of wholesale changes just for the sake of it. I guess we’ve been drip feeding new opportunities in for people. When you look at the opportunities for Samipeni and Shaun and Dallas, well, they’ve been with us for a while.”
It’s for that reason that Foster said he felt confident that the momentum built by three convincing victories in the Rugby Championship wouldn’t be halted on Saturday.
In other words, the many changes were significant but not necessarily disruptive.
Stevenson, the Chiefs fullback who was consistently dangerous this season, will start on the right wing with Will Jordan moving back to fullback and Leicester Fainga’anuku returning from injury to the left wing.
Anton Lienert-Brown and Braydon Ennor will start in the midfield with Finlay Christie and Damian McKenzie the inside back partnership and Sam Cane and Sam Whitelock returning to their regular starting roles in the pack.
“I’m just stoked to finally get a crack in this environment – not just for myself but for my family and I guess all my mates as well who have been along on the journey,” Stevenson said.
“Obviously I was gutted not to make the initial squad, but you can’t dwell on it for too long.
“The last four weeks I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can… I’m grateful to get the opportunity.”
Foster said: “He’s been well tested in training. He’s been with us for what, the last three or four weeks. He’s gone about his work really well and deserves his opportunity.
“It’s a similar thing with Samipeni… they’ve earned the right to be here but then you’ve got to earn the right to get on the park. They’ve both done a great job.
“We’ve got to make sure we keep taking a step forward and ensuring it’s not a wasted opportunity to grow our game. If we take the pressure off and say it doesn’t matter then we’re in trouble.
“The backline is new, I get that, but they have trained a lot together.”
Ian Foster isn't worried about the new-look side disrupting the momentum they've built this year. (Source: 1News)
Of the pressure on for World Cup spots – the squad will be trimmed by at least four players to 33 on Monday – Foster said: “I’ve got no doubt there’s a lot of noise around players but I think the squad has been really effective at zeroing in where we need to get to.”
After blowing away the Pumas, Boks and Wallabies, can the All Blacks improve much more?
“I’ve got no doubt we need to lift it higher,” Foster said.
“There’s no doubt we are growing confidence in parts of our game which is really important for later in the year.
“The exciting thing for us is that the World Cup starts with a pretty big game so we need to be at a high point going into this World Cup. This series of five games has been critical that we get up to speed pretty quickly.”
The Wallabies started both halves well at the MCG but couldn’t convert opportunities in the face of the All Blacks’ defence.
Coach Eddie Jones has made only minimal changes and they will likely target the All Blacks’ breakdown in what could be a frantic match under the roof.
“They had large periods of the game I’m sure they were pretty content with… when you lose it hurts and I’m sure they’ll come back strong,” Foster said.
“They’ve largely picked a similar team so I’m sure they’ll take lessons and grow their game. They’re a handful and I think it’s going to be a big and fast encounter.”
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