All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has made eight changes to his matchday squad for the second Bledisloe Cup Test this weekend.
Three of those changes are to the starting side, with George Bower starting at loosehead prop, Fabian Holland returning to combine with Scott Barrett at lock, and Josh Moorby coming off the bench to start at left wing.
After having three selection meetings last week, Rennie explained that this week was a little easier.
"There were a couple of tight positions; our thinking was that we'd make changes this week in those spots, and there have been a couple of injuries, so yeah, a little bit more straightforward this week," he said.
Holland's return to the starting side comes after he was left out completely last weekend as Josh Lord was favoured ahead of him in the first Test at Eden Park.
"Yeah, he's in one of the really tight positions. He's a good player, and we're fortunate we've got good depth in that spot – he gets his chance.
"We've got reasonable consistency, but we think the changes that we made will bring plenty of enthusiasm."
Du'plessis Kirifi earns his first selection under Rennie, as he was called up as an injury replacement for Anton Segner, who has been ruled out with a concussion.
"There were a couple of areas that we asked him to work on, especially post-tackle. It's more around technical excellence so he's going to get rewarded rather than penalised – he's been sending us in videos showing him training it.
"We felt we needed someone to give us genuine post-tackle presence and obviously we've got Peter Lakai out there, but I think Dupes can offer something a little bit different."
Rennie has named an unchanged loose forward trio with Tupou Vaa’i, Peter Lakai and Wallace Sititi all selected after strong performances last week, with the All Blacks coach particularly pleased with Vaa'i's effort.
"We thought Tupou probably had his best game in the six jersey so we wanted to build on that."
Shannon Frizell retains his spot on the bench, with Rennie wanting more out of the 34-Test loose forward before he is selected to start.
"We'll try and get a bit more out of Shannon than last weekend, but he's still building, and yeah we definitely threw that around about starting him, but we're happy with the group we've got."
Damian McKenzie again in 10 jersey
Another position that was of high interest ahead of the first Bledisloe Cup Test was first-five, but Damian McKenzie's impressive performance in that position on the weekend all but secured the jersey for the end-of-year tour.
"We want consistency, and we're not sure whether Richie's going to make it back in time for the end-of-year tour.
"Damien's only had one hit at 10, and we think that the majority of the guys out there will get another run."
Moorby comes off the bench to start on the left wing in place of Leroy Carter, who picked up an unfortunate ankle injury while scoring a try last weekend.
Rennie explained that Rieko Ioane was used as midfield cover last week, but will be covering wing for the second Test as they're expecting the Wallabies' kicking strategy to change this weekend.
"From a wing perspective, the highball's been a big part of our focus, so he's doing a lot of work on that. He's very much in the mix, and we did talk about an option to maybe throw him in and start him, but we feel that the Wallabies will kick a bit of high ball this week.
"We think it'll be a bit shorter and more contestable, and so we put the guys out there where we think it would be best to deal with that."
Timoci Tavatavanawai comes in as centre cover off the bench, having not featured since the midweek games in South Africa.
The All Blacks' second Test against the Wallabies at Accor Stadium in Sydney kicks off this Saturday at 6pm NZT.
All Blacks matchday 23 (Test caps in brackets)
1. George Bower (30)
2. Codie Taylor (113) - Captain
3. Fletcher Newell (42)
4. Scott Barrett (90)
5. Fabian Holland (15)
6. Tupou Vaa’i (52)
7. Peter Lakai (15)
8. Wallace Sititi (24)
9. Cam Roigard (25)
10. Damian McKenzie (82)
11. Josh Moorby (6)
12. Jordie Barrett (86)
13. Quinn Tupaea (30)
14. Will Jordan (62)
15. Beauden Barrett (146)
Reserves:
16. Samisoni Taukei’aho (45)
17. Xavier Numia (5)
18. Pasilio Tosi (18)
19. Shannon Frizell (34)
20. Du’Plessis Kirifi (8)
21. Cortez Ratima (24)
22. Timoci Tavatavanawai (2)
23. Rieko Ioane (90)
Unavailable due to injury: Leroy Carter (ankle); Anton Segner (concussion); Asafo Aumua (concussion); Ethan Blackadder (calf); Richie Mo’unga (calf); Fehi Fineanganofo (hamstring).
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