Beaten All Blacks keep faith with Barrett, McKenzie

The All Blacks will persist with a two-pronged attack against Italy on Saturday, despite coach Steve Hansen ringing the changes after last week’s loss to Ireland.

Hansen retained fly-half Beauden Barrett and fullback Damien McKenzie in a starting line-up featuring 11 changes from the side that ran out in Dublin, resisting calls to start the in-form Richie Mo’unga.

Instead Mo’unga stays on the bench as Hansen sticks with his strategy of using Barrett and McKenzie as dual playmakers.

The combination has failed to fire so far, with the world champions scraping to a 16-15 win over England then losing 16-9 to Ireland last week.

Hansen was confident Barrett and McKenzie, with Mo’unga as backup, would improve before next year’s World Cup in Japan.

“That’s the three guys that we see at the moment that would most likely go to the World Cup, so getting them combining, either at the beginning of the game or during the course of the game, is important,” he said. 

“We haven’t got too many games left so the more we play them together, the better it will be.”

Captain Kieran Read and flanker Ardie Savea were the only other starters retained after the Ireland loss as Hansen opted to give some of his big names a break in the final match of the season against Italy.

Notable selections include Jordie Barrett on the right wing and Dane Coles returning as hooker in a new-look front row also featuring Nepo Laulala and Ofa Tuungafasi.

Hansen expected a strong defensive performance from Italy, saying the All Blacks could not allow them to dictate terms.

“Our goal will be to create quality set-piece ball and lightning quick ruck ball, coupled with a real accuracy in our decision-making so we can use our skillsets accordingly,” he said.  

Italy coach Conor O’Shea made just one enforced change to the side that lost 26-7 top Australia in Padua last weekend. 

Benetton wing Luca Sperandio comes in for Mattia Bellini who scored Italy’s only try against the Wallabies before going off with a shoulder injury.

New Zealand team (15-1)

Damian McKenzie; Jordie Barrett, Anton Lienert-Brown, Ngani Laumape, Waisake Naholo; Beauden Barrett, TJ Perenara; Kieran Read (capt), Ardie Savea, Vaea Fifita; Scott Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu; Nepo Laulala, Dane Coles, Ofa Tuungafasi

Reserves: Nathan Harris, Karl Tu’inukuafe, Angus Ta’avao, Brodie Retallick, Dalton Papalii, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Richie Mo’unga, Rieko Ioane

Italy team (15-1)

Jayden Hayward; Tommaso Benvenuti, Michele Campagnaro, Tommaso Castello, Luca Sperandio; Tommaso Allan, Tito Tebaldi; Abraham Steyn, Jake Polledri, Sebastian Negri, Dean Budd, Alessandro Zanni, Simone Ferrari, Leonardo Ghiraldini (capt), Andrea Lovotti

Reserves: Luca Bigi, Cherif Traore, Tiziano Pasquali, Marco Fuser, Johan Meyer, Guglielmo Palazzani, Luca Morisi, Edoardo Padovani. – Agence France-Presse