Thursday 8 July 2021 - 5:58am
Beauden Barrett returns to his favoured fly-half position for the All Blacks against Fiji on Saturday.
AFP/Michael Bradley
DUNEDIN - Beauden Barrett returns to his favoured fly-half position and scrum-half Aaron Smith will captain New Zealand for the first time in a much changed All Blacks team named Thursday to face Fiji in the first Test.
Outside centre Rieko Ioane and winger George Bridge are the only players in the starting side for Saturday s match in Dunedin who also began last week s Test against Tonga.
Ethan Blackadder and George Bower, who came off the bench against Tonga, will get their first Test starts against Fiji.
Barrett back at fly-half in All Blacks tream to face Fiji
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“Dalton has got a bit of a calf at the moment from the weekend. We’ll just monitor it through the week but he’s struggling at this stage, “And we’ve got a couple of long-term boys. Anton Lienert-Brown is progressing well, Ardie [Savea] is progressing. We’ll make calls on them later in the week.” Savea’s knee flared up during the final game of the Hurricanes’ last game in Super Rugby Trans Tasman, meaning that the All Blacks’ depth in the No 7 jersey is being tested. Sam Cane is on the comeback trail from a pectoral injury, and the Chiefs No 7 – one of the All Blacks’ best last year – is not expected back until later in the year.