All Blacks coach Dave Rennie says his refreshed squad has "pretty good depth" and experience of players after naming his squad of 34 for next month's three Tests.
Yesterday afternoon, Rennie named Ardie Savea as the new captain of the squad, including some uncapped talent.
Newly-minted coach Rennie said most of the time he was "the bearer of bad news", so he said it felt good to give some new talent the call that they'd made the team.
"Obviously, very excited and very proud, [it's] those cool moments," he told Breakfast.
Shock selections: Dave Rennie reveals his first All Blacks squad – watch on TVNZ+
Explaining his decisions, Rennie said he was "comfortable" with who the selectors chose, despite any rumblings from naysayers.
"We've done a lot of work and I reckon you'll get a large percentage of a country [who] always feel there's someone else who should have got in.
"But we got some pretty good depth, there were some big decisions, but we're comfortable where we got to."
Speaking about some of the new talent, Rennie described Hurricane wingers Josh Moorby and Fehi Fineanganofo as "electric".
"[They're] great finishers, scored 17 tries each, massive work rate, and ability to get to the other side of the field.
"So we liked it. That suits how we want to play. Xavier [Numia] is only a young prop, but very, very explosive. A massive point of difference in carry and brutality, and scrummaging has come a long way.
"And then Anton [Segner] has been the best Blues player, fantastic on the ball carry, lineouts, so he's got a lot of skills."
Asked how he settled on a captain, he said Savea, "is not a massive talker, so he leads through his actions".
"We think that'll help to get the best out of him. And he's ready to go. He's been in this team a long time and, yeah, he's obviously pretty stoked."
Asked about Rieko Ioane's omission following his sabbatical in Ireland, Rennie said the door wasn't completely closed for the winger.
"Obviously, he's been away but we've watched a lot of his footy. He's gone pretty well of late but, you know, the Hurricane wing is irresistible. We'll take 44 to South Africa, so there's opportunity for 10 more players, and his versatility playing centre on wing would be an asset."
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