Ian Foster, New Zealand coach, will carry out a major squad review by making numerous changes to the starting XV of the All Blacks who will face Uruguay on Thursday in Lyon (9:00 p.m.) in Group A of the 2023 World Cup. , according to the composition of the team revealed Tuesday.
Only six starters from the previous match, won against Italy 96-17, will also start the game against the Uruguayan “Teros”.
In the front row, the left pillar Ofa Tu’ungafasi and the hooker Codie Taylor retain their place, while Tyrel Lomax, the right pillar, replacing against the “Nazionale”, who was recovering from thirty stitches placed above on a knee, will start his first match during the World Cup.
Shannon Frizell, the third row, long hampered by a hamstring injury, has a second start in a row.
Just like Jordie Barrett, in the center, who was out of the Blacks’ first two matches during the competition due to a knee injury.
Flyhalf Richie Mo’unga and winger Will Jordan remain in their positions, with versatile Damian McKenzie starting at full-back against Uruguay.
Among the notable changes in the New Zealand team, third row Sam Cane, injured in the back just before the inaugural match of the World Cup lost to France (27-13), also starts for the first time and regains his captaincy at the expense of Ardie Savea, outside the group.
Finally Samuel Whitelock, the second row, who became the most capped All Black in history against Italy, will honor his 150th selection in the black jersey on Friday in Lyon.
The All Blacks must win against the “Teros” to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition, but will have to wait for the result of the France-Italy match, still in Lyon on Friday, to know if they will finish 1st or 2nd in their group and thus know the name of their opponent in quarters.
New Zealand’s XV to face Uruguay:
McKenzie – Jordan, Lienert-Brown, J. Barrett, Fainganuku – (o) Mounga, (m) Roigard – Cane (cap.), Jacobson, Frizell – Vaa’i, Whitelock – Lomax, Taylor, Tu’ don’t fall
Remplaçants: Taukei’aho, Williams, Newell, S. Barrett, Blackadder, Christie, B. Barrett, Clarke