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Sport | All Blacks

SBW back, TJ to start in All Black side to play Boks

TJ Perenara will start at halfback in his hometown on Saturday night, while Sonny Bill Williams has been cleared fit to play in what is shaping as a very interesting test match against the Springboks in Wellington.

The other big talking point is that Richie Mo'unga takes over at first five, with Beauden Barrett shifting to fullback. There's an entirely new front row, with Joe Moody, Codie Taylor and Owen Franks replacing Ofa Tuungafasi, Dane Coles and Angus Ta’avao, who are all on the bench.

Shannon Frizell comes in at blindside flanker, with Vaea Fifita moving to the bench. Matt Todd is openside and  Kieran Read eight, with Sam Cane and Ardie Savea given the weekend off.  Dalton Papalii provides loose forward cover on the bench.

It's a new look midfield, as Williams returns alongside Jack Goodhue.  Rieko Ioane is on the left wing, and with Barrett at fullback, Ben Smith moves to the right wing. Anton Lienert-Brown and George Bridge are the back reserves.

Coach Steve Hansen said: “The selectors are once again very excited with the team we’ve selected and are very much looking forward to seeing them play. The key for us this week has been to continue building on the very good groundwork we’ve put in over the last couple of weeks. Whilst we were a little rusty last week, we’re looking forward to seeing improvements in all areas of our game this week."

Hansen outlined his thinking around the positional switch at a press conference today, saying that the change had been in the works for a while.

The returning Taylor said that there was emphasis on the lineout this week, after a few wobbles in the second half of the Buenos Aires match. Meanwhile, a light-hearted Jack Goodhue told us he’d lost his voice welcoming back his returning team mates. He also felt ‘betrayed’ by other members of the so-called ‘Mullet Movement’ of 2018, as he is the last remaining player to be sporting the iconic yet fashionably questionable haircut so far this year.

Meanwhile, the Springboks have made widespread changes of their own to the side that defeated the Wallabies last weekend.

All Blacks side to play South Africa, Westpac Stadium, 7:35pm Saturday:

1. Joe Moody (37)

2. Codie Taylor (41)

3. Owen Franks (106)

4. Brodie Retallick (76)

5. Samuel Whitelock (108)

6. Shannon Frizell (4)

7. Matt Todd (17)

8. Kieran Read - captain (118)

9. TJ Perenara (55)

10. Richie Mo’unga (9)

11. Rieko Ioane (24)

12. Sonny Bill Williams (51)

13. Jack Goodhue (7)

14. Ben Smith (77)

15. Beauden Barrett (74)

Bench:

16. Dane Coles (61)

17. Ofa Tuungafasi (27)

18. Angus Ta’avao (4)

19. Vaea Fifita (10)

20. Dalton Papalii (2)

21. Aaron Smith (83)

22. Anton Lienert-Brown (34)

23. George Bridge (1)

Springboks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen (c), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff. Bench: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel.