All Blacks coach Dave Rennie has rolled the dice, changing up his tight five for the crucial third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry test against the Springboks at FNB Stadium on Saturday evening.
Rennie, whose side won the first test but lost the second against the Boks, has tried to fix a lineout that faltered in Cape Town, and has decided to rejig the tight five to try and achieve just that.
Tupou Vaa’i will play his 50th test for the All Blacks in the process and will be partnered by 10 test lock Sam Darry - which is surprising because the All Blacks were expected to keep Fabian Holland in the second row and there was talk of a returning Josh Lord to the side for the clash after he had recovered from concussion.
But neither Lord, nor the other All Black concussed in the friendly fire clash in Johannesburg two weeks ago - prop Ethan de Groot - are on the teamlist. Instead George Bower is at loosehead, and Tyrel Lomax stays at tighthead.
Asafo Aumua, who has been handy off the bench in the series so far, replaces early Tour captain Codie Taylor, who transgressed a few times last week and is out of the match day 23.
Darry and Vaa’i will have a tough time facing the Bok lineout, which will be licking their lips about the match-up and see it as a key point where they can attack the All Blacks up front.
The loose trio sees one change with Peter Lakai coming in for Simon Parker, who was a late replacement for Anton Segner in the first test. Lakai provided some spark off the bench in the second test.
𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Dave Rennie names his All Blacks team for the third Test of #RugbysGreatestRivalry at FNB Stadium 🇳🇿🚨 pic.twitter.com/ez4Z6Dsgcj
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) September 3, 2026
The backline is unchanged and will play their third consecutive match against the Boks with some significant changes on the bench.
Holland takes his place on the bench while Wallace Sititi, the one time World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year, is brought in to shed his forgotten man status in the team.
Samisoni Taukei’aho is the reserve hooker.
Rennie paid tribute to Vaa’i on his 50th cap.“
“Tupes is a top man. It’ll be a special day for him and his family and additional motivation for us,” Rennie said.
“With both teams heading into the third test one apiece, there’s everything to play for on Saturday.” The team that doesn’t win this weekend can’t win the series. That’s the kind of challenge we love to rise to.
“The team is feeling fresh after a full week’s lead in to the game and we can’t wait to put everything out on the park.
All Blacks match-day 23 (test caps in brackets):
15 Damian McKenzie (79)
14 Will Jordan (59)
13 Quinn Tupaea (28)
12 Jordie Barrett (83)
11 Leroy Carter (9)
10 Ruben Love (10)
9 Cam Roigard (22)
8 Ardie Savea (captain, 111)
7 Luke Jacobson (29)
6 Peter Lakai (12)
5 Sam Darry (10)
4 Tupou Vaa’i (49)
3 Tyrel Lomax (53)
2 Asafo Aumua (24)
1 George Bower (28)
Replacements:
16 Samisoni Taukei’aho (44)
17 Xavier Numia (3)
18 Fletcher Newell (39)
19 Fabian Holland (14)
20 Wallace Sititi (21)
21 Kyle Preston (3)
22 Anton Lienert-Brown (92)
23 Josh Moorby (3)
MATCH FACTS
• As well as Vaa’i playing his 50th test, there will also be other numerical milestones this weekend: Damian McKenzie will be playing his 80th test, Will Jordan his 60th, Fletcher Newell his 40th, and Luke Jacobson his 30th.
• This is the ninth time in 13 test series between New Zealand and South Africa that the results have been tied at one-all going into the Third test.
• The All Blacks have played twice previously at FNB Stadium, winning 29-22 in 2010 and 32 - 16 in 2012.
• With his 33rd test try last week, Ardie Savea took the number of total test tries for the Savea brothers to a world record of 79 for siblings (Julian Savea scored 46), passing the Barrett brothers mark of 78: Beauden has scored 45 tries, Jordie 26 and Scott seven.