{"id":18416,"date":"2026-09-04T04:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18416"},"modified":"2026-09-04T04:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T16:25:12","slug":"all-blacks-bring-in-fresh-legs-for-third-test-against-the-springboks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/?p=18416","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks bring in fresh legs for third test against the Springboks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has made three changes to his starting XV for Sunday morning’s third test against the Springboks in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Hooker Codie Taylor,\u00a0who started in the first and second tests<\/a>, has been replaced in the run-on side by Asafo Aumua,\u00a0who gets his first start in the test series<\/a>\u00a0after some impressive performances coming off the bench.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Taylor has been left out of the matchday 23, with Samisoni Taukei’aho coming into the reserves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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George Bower and Tyrel Lomax are retained as the starting props.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sam Darry, who hasn’t featured in either of the first two tests, starts at lock alongside Tupou Vaa’i, pushing Fabian Holland to the bench.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Peter Lakai, who was also impressive coming off the bench in Cape Town, will start at blindside flanker, with Simon Parker, who started at No. 6 last weekend, omitted from the matchday 23.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Peter<\/div>
Peter Lakai will start at blindside in the third test against the Springboks.<\/p>\n

Photosport<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Luke Jacobson remains at openside with captain Ardie Savea at No. 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Wallace Sititi will make his first test appearance in the series, coming into the 23 as loose forward impact.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The starting backline remains the same as last weekend with Cam Roigard and Ruben Love in the halves, Jordie Barrett and Quinn Tupaea in the midfield and Damian McKenzie, Will Jordan and Leroy Carter in the back three.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Prop Ethan de Groot and lock Josh Lord, who missed the second test with concussion, have cleared concussion protocols, but Rennie decided it would be best to give them another week to recover.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With the series tied 1-1 both sides\u00a0are desperate to win the last test on South African soil<\/a>\u00a0before the fourth and final match in Baltimore in the US.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Sunday morning’s (NZT) match is at the Soccer City stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, which holds about 94,000 fans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Sam<\/div>
Sam Darry is set for his first start of the test series.<\/p>\n

Kerry Marshall \/ www.photosport.nz<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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All Blacks match-day 23 (Test caps in brackets):<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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1. George Bower (28)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2. Asafo Aumua (24)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3. Tyrel Lomax (53)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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4. Tupou Vaa’i (49)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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5. Sam Darry (10)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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6. Peter Lakai (12)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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7. Luke Jacobson (29)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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8. Ardie Savea (111) – Captain<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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9. Cam Roigard (22)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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10. Ruben Love (10)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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11. Leroy Carter (9)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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12. Jordie Barrett (83)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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13. Quinn Tupaea (28)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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14. Will Jordan (59)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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15. Damian McKenzie (79)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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16. Samisoni Taukei’aho (44)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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17. Xavier Numia (3)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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18. Fletcher Newell (39)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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19. Fabian Holland (14)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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20. Wallace Sititi (21)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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21. Kyle Preston (3)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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22. Anton Lienert-Brown (92)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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23. Josh Moorby (4)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

rnz<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has made three changes to his starting XV for Sunday morning’s third test against the Springboks in Johannesburg. Hooker Codie Taylor,\u00a0who started in the first and second tests, has been replaced in the run-on side by Asafo Aumua,\u00a0who gets his first start in the test series\u00a0after some impressive performances coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18417,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nz-news","category-sports"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18416"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18418,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18416\/revisions\/18418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebuzz.apnanetwork.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}