All Black coach Dave Rennie has made four changes, one of them a positional switch, to the team for the second Test against the Springboks in Cape Town on Saturday.
Winger Josh Moorby, who was bumped by Andre Esterhuizen on his way to scoring South Africa’s only try in the home side’s 16-33 defeat at Ellis Park last weekend, has swapped places on the bench with Leroy Carter.
Simon Parker, who wasn’t in action at Ellis Park but played against the Stormers and the Bulls, comes in at flank with Tupou Vaa’i moving to lock in place of injured Josh Lord.
Front-rower George Bower, who came off the bench in the opening Test, starts in place of Ethan de Groot, who has also been ruled out of action.
Five of the eight substitutes were on the bench at Ellis Park, with the newcomers being Xavier Numia and Patrick Tuipulotu.
Tuipulotu started in Tuesday’s match against the Lions, where Numia, Peter Lakia, Kyle Preston and Anton Lienert-Brown came off the bench.
A win for the All Blacks this weekend would mean they cannot do worse than draw the four-match series.
They have won two consecutive matches against the Boks in South Africa in a calendar year only once — in 1996 when they took three in a row. They first wrapped up the inaugural Tri-Nations tournament with a 29-18 win in Cape Town and then claimed the only away series triumph in their history with a 23-19 victory in Durban followed by a 33-26 win in Pretoria.
All Blacks team:
(15-1) Damian McKenzie, Will Jordan, Quinn Tupaea, Jordie Barrett, Leroy Carter, Ruben Love, Cam Roigard, Ardie Savea (capt), Luke Jacobson, Simon Parker, Tupou Vaa’i, Fabian Holland, Tyrel Lomax, Codie Taylor, George Bower
Replacements: Asafo Aumua, Xavier Numia, Fletcher Newell, Patrick Tuipulotu, Peter Lakai, Kyle Preston, Anton Lienert-Brown, Josh Moorby
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