All Blacks team news
A couple of changes for the All Blacks when the teams were announced during the week.
Damian McKenzie, who has started all eight of Scott Robertson‘s matches as All Blacks coach, has been dropped to the bench, with Beauden Barrett slotting in at number 10.
Beauden Barrett will line up with former Wellington and Hurricanes teammate TJ Perenara in the halves.
Will Jordan will start at fullback, as he did last week after twice World Player of the Year Barrett was sidelined by a stomach bug on the morning of the match.
One of Barrett’s brothers, Jordie, is replaced at inside centre by Anton Lienert-Brown, while Scott captains from lock.
McKenzie and Cortez Ratima drop to the bench.
Former skipper Sam Cane will play his 100th game.
Wallabies team news
The Wallabies make two changes, both in the backs, with Dylan Pietsch replacing the injured Marika Koroibete on the wing for his first Test start, and Jake Gordon comes back in at scrumhalf, with Nic White dropping out of the squad completely.
Ben Donaldson comes onto the bench as backup to flyhalf Noah Lolesio, with Tom Lynagh dropping out.
James Slipper became the most capped Wallaby of all time last time out off the bench, but he’s replaced on the pine by Isaac Kailea, who returns from injury.
The starting pack is unchanged for the first time since the Rugby World Cup.
All Blacks vs Wallabies
Hello everyone and welcome to the ABC Sport coverage of the second Bledisloe Cup match of the season.
My name is Simon Smale and I am excited to be able to bring you all the action as it happens over the ditch as the All Blacks take on the Wallabies in Wellington.
I’m not going to lie to you, the portents are not great for the Wallabies heading into this contest – they rarely are against the All Blacks.
But they’re a whole lot better than they would have been had the All Blacks carried on with their rampant try-scoring in Sydney last week, where the visitors led 21-0 very early and looked like sailing off into the distance as battleship Wallaby sank to depths not seen since, well, last year.
But that didn’t happen, the Wallabies rallied and ended up running their misfiring rivals pretty close.
Can they carry on from where they left off in Sydney?
Let’s find out, shall we?
