Petrified All Blacks not willing to gamble against lowly Italy
Yesterday at 11:18 PM
New Zealand coach Scott Robertson named a near full-strength matchday 23-man squad to face struggling Italy in Turin on Saturday, 23 November.
Kick-off is at 22:10 (SA time).
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Robertson appears unwilling to gamble with blooding new players, despite facing – according to the world rankings – the worst team on the European part of their end-of-year tour.
Italy, who find themselves in 10th place in the World Rugby standings, squeaked past lowly Georgia 20-17 last weekend and were hammered 50-18 by Argentina the weekend prior.
Had Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus been in Robertson’s shoes, it’s a near certainty the South African mentor would’ve made wholesale changes in an effort to grow the number of Test-experienced players at his disposal.
Erasmus has exposed no fewer than 52 players to the Test arena – this year alone – as he builds depth with an eye on the next Rugby World Cup in 2027.
Robertson, in his first year at the helm, clearly has a different plan.
All Blacks team announcement
Sam Cane and TJ Perenara will make their international farewells this weekend after being selected in the All Blacks line-up to face Italy.
Flanker Cane will make his 104th appearance for his country in the starting 15 at the Allianz Stadium on Saturday as Scott Robertson aims to end the year on a high after a narrow defeat to France in Paris last weekend.
Cane sat that one out due to a head injury.
Perenara, who has 88 caps, starts his last ever match for New Zealand on the bench.
“As our first ever match in Turin, our final match of the 2024 Test season, and the farewell match for Sam and TJ, this will be a great occasion,” said Robertson in a statement.
“We are determined to finish our season in a way that honours and celebrates the immense contribution that Sam and TJ have made to the black jersey.”
New Zealand have won all 17 of their matches with Italy stretching back to 1979 and Robertson has defied predictions that he would make wholesale changes for the Azzurri.
Two-time World Rugby player of the year Beauden Barrett starts at flyhalf while Wallace Sititi – nominated by World Rugby as breakthrough player of the year – is across from Cane at openside flanker.
Prop Ethan de Groot and lock Patrick Tuipulotu come into the pack while Anton Lienert-Brown is in at centre for the injured Jordie Barrett.
Italy team
Meanwhile, Toulouse star Ange Capuozzo returns for Italy at fullback after sitting out his team’s hard-fought 20-17 win over Georgia with concussion.
Capuozzo left the field seven minutes into Italy’s heavy loss to Argentina which kicked off their autumn Test campaign earlier this month, and comes in for Matt Gallagher.
Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada has made in total six changes from last weekend, with injured captain Michele Lamaro handing over the skipper’s armband to centre Juan Ignacio Brex.
TEAMS
New Zealand
15 Will Jordan, 14 Mark Tele’a, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Anton Lienert-Brown, 11 Caleb Clarke, 10 Beauden Barrett, 9 Cam Roigard, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane, 6 Wallace Sititi, 5 Patrick Tuipulotu, 4 Scott Barrett (captain), 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Replacements: 16 Asafo Aumua, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Fletcher Newell, 19 Tupou Vaa’i, 20 Peter Lakai, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 David Havili, 23 Damian McKenzie
Italy
15 Ange Capuozzo, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Juan Ignacio Brex (captain), 12 Tommaso Menoncello, 11 Monty Ioane, 10 Paolo Garbisi, 9 Martin Page-Relo, 8 Ross Vintcent, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Sebastian Negri, 5 Dino Lamb, 4 Federico Ruzza, 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Gianmarco Lucchesi, 1 Danilo Fischetti
Replacements: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Mirco Spagnolo, 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Niccolo Cannone, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Leonardo Marin, 23 Marco Zanon
Whose approach is better: Build depth (Rassie) or bank on tried-and-tested (Robertson)?
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