Key events
It’s been a glorious spring day at the southern end of New Zealand’s North Island, with clear skies and mild temperatures. And it’s about as still as it will ever be in a city nicknamed windy. Perfect conditions for Test rugby.
Curiously, the ground affectionately known as the Cake Tin has not been a happy hunting ground for the All Blacks. They have suffered three defeats (to Argentina, South Africa, and Ireland) and recorded two draws (against South Africa and Australia) in their last five matches in the capital. Mind you, the Wallabies haven’t beaten New Zealand anywhere on enemy territory since 2001.
As the two sides go through their drills Joe Schmidt is prowling around the Wallabies barking out encouragement. You sense from the outside Australia are targeting this match as the one that kickstarts a new era.
There’s half-an-hour or so before kick-off. You might prefer to spend that time following the closing stages of the AFL grand final.
Australia XV
Joe Schmidt has also made minimal changes to his Wallabies XV, retaining the same starting forward pack, while exploring new combinations in the backline. The quest to find a workable halves partnership sees Nic White make way for Jake Gordon, while a wrist injury to Marieke Koroibete sees Dylan Pietsch come in on the wing. The record breaking James Slipper hasn’t recovered from the knock he sustained last weekend, so Isaac Kailea comes onto the bench, where he is joined by Ben Donaldson and Josh Flook.
The result is an inexperienced XV, with just 394 Tests between them and just one man – Taniela Tupou – with more than 50 caps. All but one All Black in the starting XV has at least 20 Tests under their belt.
1. Angus Bell, 2. Matt Faessler, 3. Taniela Tupou, 4. Nick Frost, 5. Jeremy Williams, 6. Rob Valetini, 7. Fraser McReight, 8. Harry Wilson (c), 9. Jake Gordon, 10. Noah Lolesio, 11. Dylan Pietsch, 12. Hunter Paisami, 13. Len Ikitau, 14. Andrew Kellaway, 15. Tom Wright.
Replacements: 16. Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17. Isaac Kailea, 18. Allan Alaalatoa, 19. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20. Langi Gleeson, 21. Tate McDermott, 22. Ben Donaldson, 23. Josh Flook.
New Zealand XV
Scott Robertson has named an unchanged pack, but behind it there are significant alterations. The Damian McKenzie experiment has been put on hold, for now, with Beauden Barrett returning to the 10 jersey, and alongside him will be the sympathetically recalled TJ Perenara. Elsewhere, Anton Lienert-Brown comes in for the injured Jordie Barrett.
Both Perenara and former captain Sam Cane (who today becomes just the 13th Kiwi to reach 100 caps) are likely to turn out for the All Blacks in New Zealand for the last time. They are both off to play club rugby in Japan next season, making them ineligible for selection.
“This will be a particularly special night for Sam and TJ and the boys will put in a performance that honours their contribution to this team,” Robertson said. “As a Wellington man and the most-capped Hurricane of all time, we know that TJ is a crowd favourite in the capital and we look forward to him expressing himself on the field in front of friends and whanau at home.”
1. Ethan de Groot, 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Tyrel Lomax, 4. Scott Barrett (c), 5. Tupou Vaa’i, 6. Wallace Sititi, 7. Sam Cane, 8. Ardie Savea, 9. TJ Perenara, 10. Beauden Barrett, 11. Caleb Clarke, 12. Anton Lienert-Brown, 13. Rieko Ioane, 14. Sevu Reece, 15. Will Jordan
Impact: 16. Asafo Aumua, 17. Tamaiti Williams, 18. Pasilio Tosi, 19. Patrick Tuipulotu, 20. Luke Jacobson, 21. Cortez Ratima, 22. Damian McKenzie, 23. David Havili
Angus Fontaine tried to get his head around last weekend’s unlikely nail-biter in Sydney.
New Zealand butchered seven tries in an hour, four with arrogance or ineptitude and three when the TMO found tiny errors in the lead-up. It was the three tries they did score and the 21-0 lead they amassed in the first 15 minutes that snuffed the Wallabies comeback before it began, paving the way for an embarassingly clumsy Kiwi victory.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of New Zealand v Australia in the final round of the 2024 Rugby Championship. Kick-off at Sky Stadium in Wellington is 7:05pm local/5:05pm AEST/8:05am BST.
The battle for the Bledisloe Cup is over for another year, and neither side can win the Rugby Championship, so context for today’s trans-Tasman clash is mainly vibe based.
Are the Wallabies really awful (second-half v Argentina/first-half v All Blacks) or are they an exciting work in progress (first-half v Argentina/second-half v All Blacks)? Has Scott Robertson unlocked something magical with the mercurial Damian McKenzie running the show (blowing the Wallabies away inside 10 minutes in Sydney) or is the risk/reward simply too great for the fine margins of Test rugby (countless blown try-scoring opportunities letting Australia off the hook and back into the contest).
However you choose to view it, it’s likely to be fun.
This has been a wild southern hemisphere season. The All Blacks have conceded 25 points per game on average this Rugby Championship; the Wallabies 36! The leading try-scorers are Argentina. The Springboks are likely to win the lot despite only briefly hitting top gear and treating the competition as a squad-building exercise.
I’ll be back with squads and more shortly. If you’d like to get in touch while I’m on, please fire all communication to jonathan.howcroft.casual@theguardian.com.
