There are only two mid-week matches and only the Lions game will impact the test selection. But having some versatility amongst the tour squad will be important to rotate players.
@landers92 said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@landers92 said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@zedsdeadbaby said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
I assume the overseas player was Aaron Smith?
Close
TKB
TJP believe it or not
I'd rather not
Imagine this is what the Test/mid-week teams will look like (using the widely predicted extra squaddies). Not too big a risk playing Segner and Lienert-Brown in both matches as there's ample cover in their positions (or in Segner's case, ample lock coverage to allow for a different bench-split).
| Test team | Mid-week team | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | De Groot | Bower |
| 2 | Taylor | Taukei'aho |
| 3 | Lomax | Lauaki |
| 4 | Tuipulotu | Darry |
| 5 | Lord | Holland |
| 6 | Vaa'i | Parker |
| 7 | Jacobson | Segner* |
| 8 | Savea | Sititi |
| 9 | Roigard | Preston |
| 10 | Love | Barrett |
| 11 | Moorby | Carter |
| 12 | Barrett | Lienert-Brown* |
| 13 | Tupaea | Ioane |
| 14 | Jordan | Fineanganofo |
| 15 | McKenzie | Harkin |
| 16 | Aumua | Bell |
| 17 | Numia | Norris |
| 18 | Newell | Newell* |
| 19 | Segner | Hannah |
| 20 | Lakai | Tupou Ta'eiloa |
| 21 | Ratima | Hotham |
| 22 | Lienert-Brown | Proctor |
| 23 | Clarke | Narawa |
| New squad members | ||
| *Players who have to double up |
@mr-fish said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
Imagine this is what the Test/mid-week teams will look like (using the widely predicted extra squaddies). Not too big a risk playing Segner and Lienert-Brown in both matches as there's ample cover in their positions (or in Segner's case, ample lock coverage to allow for a different bench-split).
Test team Mid-week team 1 De Groot Bower 2 Taylor Taukei'aho 3 Lomax Lauaki 4 Tuipulotu Darry 5 Lord Holland 6 Vaa'i Parker 7 Jacobson Segner* 8 Savea Sititi 9 Roigard Preston 10 Love Barrett 11 Moorby Carter 12 Barrett Lienert-Brown* 13 Tupaea Ioane 14 Jordan Fineanganofo 15 McKenzie Harkin 16 Aumua Bell 17 Numia Norris 18 Newell Newell* 19 Segner Hannah 20 Lakai Tupou Ta'eiloa 21 Ratima Hotham 22 Lienert-Brown Proctor 23 Clarke Narawa New squad members *Players who have to double up
You missed Tosi so Newell will not have to double up
@nostrildamus perhaps Carter covers halfback as well. Maybe they won't take a fourth halfback.
@bovidae said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
Paul Cully is picking Jacomb ahead of Harkin. Jacomb hasn't impressed as a fullback so doesn't have the same utility value as Harkin.
Cully tends to have a Highlanders bias so need to factor that in
Personally i'd take Harkin and groom him as a the backup 15 to DMac
@george33 said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@nostrildamus perhaps Carter covers halfback as well. Maybe they won't take a fourth halfback.
Could there be any more proof Rennie thinks the halfback options are useless?
@kiwimurph said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@bovidae said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
Paul Cully is picking Jacomb ahead of Harkin. Jacomb hasn't impressed as a fullback so doesn't have the same utility value as Harkin.
Cully tends to have a Highlanders bias so need to factor that in
Personally i'd take Harkin and groom him as a the backup 15 to DMac
It also seems like his thinking is lagging a bit behind. Jacomb was in the conversation a year or so ago but fell off this year. He needs to perform in Super Rugby next year to be in with a shot.
@kidcalder said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
No need to have Jacomb there with all the 10/15 cover we have, he still developing as a 10 and maybe his time will come later. See how he goes driving the Highlanders around first.
If Jacomb is in I would like to go full hypocrite and withdraw my belief in following NZR rules and let Rennie take Mo.
I'd say Jacomb has been regressing as a 10 rather than developing.
@george33 said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@nostrildamus perhaps Carter covers halfback as well. Maybe they won't take a fourth halfback.
It would be great if he has decent impact /backup value there but as a 9 even in an ABs midweek that would be ballsy...
@shaquilleoatmeal said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@george33 said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@nostrildamus perhaps Carter covers halfback as well. Maybe they won't take a fourth halfback.
Could there be any more proof Rennie thinks the halfback options are useless?
It would be a giant trout slap in the face alright.
@taniwharugby said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
@george33 in thier opinion? We dont know what targets Rennie had for the centres, both had thier moments (good and bad) fitting into a new.offence.and defence line, not sure 2 tests is enough to cut them.
And Rennie chose not to select Ioane in his initial squad for whatever reason. He easily could have found a space for him if he wanted. He would have known Tupaea and Proctor were iffy on defence but may have either thought he could sort that out (but hasn’t had time yet only three tests in) or the upside was worth it.
@george33 said in All Blacks Tour of South Africa 2026:
I've heard Payton Spencer also potentially a bolter.
Dude are you trolling with all these Auckland long shots?