Well, the All Blacks have named their team to take on the Wallabies in the opening encounter for both the Rugby Championship & the Bledisloe Cup (Contested between Australia & New Zealand since 1931 but the All Blacks are the current holders since 2003 (Well, we have lost only 6 games since New Zealand have been Bledisloe Cup holders (And 2015 was the last time New Zealand lost to Australia but we're on a 4 game winning streak) at ANZ Stadium in Sydney (English referee Wayne Barnes has replaced Frenchman Jerome Garces (Who had injured his calf during a rugby friendly back home in France because Garces was the man who sent off Sonny Bill Williams) as the referee in charge of the game while Welshman Nigel Owens will take over for the next test match in Dunedin) so here is the starting lineup:
FRONT ROW
1 (Loose head prop): Joe Moody (Canterbury/Crusaders)
2 (Hooker): Codie Taylor (Canterbury/Crusaders)
3 (Tight head prop): Owen Franks (Canterbury/Crusaders)
SECOND ROW
4 (Lock): Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay/Chiefs)
5 (Lock): Sam Whitelock (Canterbury/Crusaders)
BACK ROW
6 (Blindside Flanker): Liam Squire (Tasman/Highlanders)
7 (Openside Flanker): Sam Cane (Bay Of Plenty/Chiefs)
8 (Number 8): Kieran Read (Captain, Counties Manukau/Crusaders)
HALVES
9 (Half-back): Aaron Smith (Manawatu/Highlanders)
10 (First five eighth): Beauden Barrett (Taranaki/Hurricanes)
MIDFIELD
12 (Second five eighth): Sonny Bill Williams (Counties Manukau/Blues)
13 (Centre): Ryan Crotty (Canterbury/Crusaders)
OUTSIDE BACKS
11 (Left Wing): Rieko Ioane (Auckland/Blues)
14 (Right Wing): Ben Smith (Otago/Highlanders)
& 15 (Fullback): Damian McKenzie (Waikato/Chiefs)
And in the reserves are:
16. Nathan Harris
17. Wyatt Crockett
18. Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Who replaces Charlie Faumuina because Faumuina is heading to Toulouse in France)
19. Luke Romano (Who had won his place ahead of Scott Barrett)
20. Ardie Savea
21. TJ Perenara
22. Lima Sopoaga (Who replaces Aaron Cruden because Cruden is heading to Montpellier in France)
& 23. Anton Lienert-Brown.
And the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup gets underway tonight so here is the list of games being played in the 1st round:
North Harbour Vs Otago: QBE Stadium, Albany
Tasman Vs Canterbury: Trafalgar Park, Nelson
Hawke's Bay Vs Southland: McLean Park, Napier
Taranaki Vs Waikato: Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth
Counties Manukau Vs Auckland: ECOlight Stadium, Pukekohe
Northland Vs Bay of Plenty: Toll Stadium, Whangarei
& Manawatu Vs Wellington at Central Energy Trust Arena in Palmerston North.
And finally the Rebels (Although they have acquired Wallaby halfback Will Genia for next season as well as former English lock Geoff Parling but they have still got Tongan born Japanese number eight Amanaki Lelei Mafi) survive despite a poor record this season (Well they invested $21 million to keep them alive from competing in Super Rugby) but the Western Force are officially gone, they are out of Super Rugby since they joined the competition in 2006 (They had a better record this Super Rugby season finishing 2nd behind the Brumbies & ahead of the Reds in the Australian conference) along with the Cheetahs but they joined the likes of the Cheetahs & the Southern Kings (Both South African teams have ended up competing in the Pro 14) because they can only be 4 Australian teams (Such as the Brumbies, Rebels, Reds & Waratahs) competing in Super Rugby next year.
So that is my 133rd blog of the year 2017 (MMXVII) & my 53rd this year.
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