All Blacks wing Mark Tele’a is back in the starting line-up for the World Cup semifinal against Argentina, with lock Sam Whitelock also returning as Ian Foster and his selectors attempt to balance continuity after their epic quarter-final win over Ireland with an injection of energy.
The only other change is Samisoni Taukei’aho's selection on the bench as hooker cover ahead of Dane Coles.
The All Blacks must keep one eye on a potential final but it’s clear they are taking the threat of their Rugby Championship rivals who beat them in Christchurch last year seriously.
“Selection is always tough – getting the combinations at this stage of the tournament when there’s no tomorrow,” Foster said. “For us we’ve effectively trusted the line-up we had last week.
“We have a lot of faith in all of our locks but those three are very experienced. Sam starting brings a little bit more energy into that pack early. We’ve got Brodie [Retallick] coming off the bench and Samisoni in for Colesy is a very similar story.”
It was perhaps significant in the minutes after Whitelock earned the dramatic turnover penalty to effectively win the game for the All Blacks, he was running up and down the Stade de France pitch to improve his fitness. Energy shouldn't be an issue for him at least.
As for Tele’a, dropped last weekend for the 28-24 victory over the Irish after breaching team protocol, his selection ahead of Leicester Fainga’anuku was relatively straightforward.
“Mark has done his time and like I said at the time, he made a mistake,” Foster said. “He accepted what was happening but don’t linger in that space. He’s been our form winger through this tournament and we really have a lot of faith in him.
“I really enjoyed Leicester’s game and he did a lot of what we wanted him to do last week and he should be proud of that and it was a tough selection. It’s a chance for us to get [Tele’a] on the park and I know he’s excited.”
At the team announcement at the All Blacks hotel in an upmarket western suburb of Paris, Foster said Argentina were “perhaps an underrated team worldwide”, and he was wary of their building form capped by an excellent come-from-behind victory over Wales in their quarter-final in Marseille.
One journalist, who used a translator to ask Foster about being favourites this weekend after they were underdogs against Ireland, got a blunt answer from the head coach.
“You’ll never hear us say we’re favourites,” he said. “That’s your language, if it is indeed your language. We’re in a World Cup semifinal. We know that these games are do or die.”
Skipper Sam Cane, sitting alongside Foster in front of a large collection of media, added: “I thought we took a massive step up but we’re at the crunch stage of the tournament now where what we did last week may not be good enough this week.”
Cane said he felt the team were in a good spot after the emotional highs of last weekend but “we’ve got to go again”.
Four years ago the All Blacks fell hard at this stage of the tournament, which came after a hugely tense semifinal victory against the Springboks at Twickenham in 2015.
Asked why semifinals were so tough, Foster said: “At a basic level it’s tense because of the opposition’s level.
“The enormity of it. You know there’s a lot at stake and you get people talking to you about tomorrow.”
Cane, too, made reference of the last World Cup in Japan and their disappointment against England when he said: “There’s plenty of us that have that hurt and scars from 2019… there are a couple of Mondays we can turn up next week and one of them is horrible."
All Blacks team to play Argentina in the World Cup semifinal at the Stade de France at 8am on Saturday NZT is:
15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Mark Tele’a, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane ©, 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Scott Barrett, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot.
Reserves: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Brodie Retallick, 20 Dalton Papali’i, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Damian McKenzie, 23 Anton Lienert-Brown.
SHARE ME