New Zealand's Will Jordan flies in for a try during the match against Ireland, in Dublin, on 8 November. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
All Blacks v Italy
Kick-off: 9.10am Sunday 24 November
Allianz Stadium, Turin
Live blog updates on RNZ Sport
This is it, the last test of the season for Scott Robertson's All Blacks. So far it's been nine wins and four losses, the form guide suggests this one will end in a comfortable victory.
The magnificent Allianz Stadium in Turin is the venue for the match, while the All Blacks have played in quite a few Italian cities over the years, this will be the first time they have visited the northern city most well known for being the home of the country's automotive industry and Juventus football club.
Allianz is the home ground of Juventus, the All Blacks have been doing a bit of promo work with them this week given their shared sponsorship with adidas. It's shaping up to be a cold night in Turin, with snow falling during the week and the temperature expected to be below freezing at kick-off.
This will be the last time on the park as All Blacks for both Sam Cane and TJ Perenara, both men bow out having played 105 and 89 tests respectively.
Sam Cane at the Bledisloe Cup match in Wellington, on 28 September. Photo: Kerry Marshall / www.photosport.nz
Here's a look at the teams:
All Blacks: 1. Ethan de Groot 2. Codie Taylor 3. Tyrel Lomax 4. Scott Barrett (c) 5. Patrick Tuipulotu 6. Wallace Sititi 7. Sam Cane 8. Ardie Savea 9. Cam Roigard 10. Beauden Barrett 11. Caleb Clarke 12. Anton Lienert-Brown 13. Rieko Ioane 14. Mark Tele'a 15. Will Jordan
Bench: 16. Asafo Aumua 17. Ofa Tu'ungafasi 18. Fletcher Newell 19. Tupou Vaa'i 20. Peter Lakai 21. TJ Perenara 22. David Havili 23. Damian McKenzie
Italy: 1. Danilo Fischetti 2. Gianmarco Lucchesi 3. Marco Riccioni 4. Federico Ruzza 5. Dino Lamb 6. Sebastian Negri 7. Manuel Zuliani 8. Ross Vintcent 9. Martin Page-Relo 10. Paolo Garbisi 11. Monty Ioane 12. Tommaso Menoncello 13. Juan Ignacio Brex (c) 14. Jacopo Trulla 15. Ange Capuozzo
Bench: 16 Giacomo Nicotera, 17 Mirco Spagnolo 18 Simone Ferrari, 19 Niccolò Cannone, 20 Alessandro Izekor, 21 Alessandro Garbisi, 22 Leonardo Marin 23 Marco Zanon
TJ Perenara and Scott Robertson hongi, at the 28 September Bledisloe Cup match. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
All Blacks selections:
This is a very stacked All Blacks team, surprisingly so considering this is the last game of the tour and more than a few of these players are due for a rest.
Ethan de Groot returns after being in the dog box for an off-field indiscretion, but the real reason he's back is because Tamaiti Williams is injured. Patrick Tuipulotu gets a start ahead of Tupou Vaa'i, while Cane returns to openside and in the backs Anton Lienert-Brown comes in for the injured Jordie Barrett. Peter Lakai retains his bench spot to back up the loosies, while David Havili gets his first run since the win over Japan.
This selection really says a lot about how keen Robertson is to win and put on a good performance, however it's meant some of his squad members have seen very little game time on this tour.
Italy selections:
Italy's right wing Lorenzo Pani is congratulated by centre Paolo Garbisi after scoring Italy's first try during the France 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool A match against Uruguay. Photo: AFP
The big change for the Italians after their 2017 win over Georgia last weekend is the return of Ange Capuozzo. The young fullback is their best attacking weapon. Sebastian Negri is a hard ball carrier, but the real test will be on the tight five against a very well performed All Black set piece.
Elsewhere Martin Page-Relo takes over at halfback inside Paolo Garbisi, if Italy get any sort of front foot ball it'll be up to them to make something happen.
What they're saying:
"The guys were desperately disappointed last week. We created so much, and the French just took a few opportunities - the game changed and we had our chances which we didn't take. We wanted to come up here and sweep the north. The margins are small, now we get a chance to finish properly." - All Blacks coach Scott Robertson.
"We just want to end the year how we started. A win would be awesome but we're focused on the performance, that comes from a great week's preparation." - All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane.
The last time they met:
The score ended All Blacks 96 - 17 Italy the last time the sides faced off, at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
It seems crazy to think there were genuine fears that Italy would cause an upset and send the All Blacks tumbling out of last year's World Cup. All of that was answered in brutal fashion as they handed out a trademark All Black backlash, running in 12 tries and almost racking up a century.
It says a lot that this wasn't even the record-winning score line between the two sides.
What is going to happen:
This will be one way traffic, unless the Italians can do what they did in 2010 and simply try to spoil everything so that the All Blacks can't string enough phases together. Even then, there is so much talent in this side it's likely that a negative gameplan will be overturned by set piece dominance.
The main issue is likely to be the weather. It's been a while since the All Blacks have played in snow, and the conditions may affect what they want to do with the ball.
This is the last test of the season, but also the last one for a couple of serious servants to the black jersey. Both Cane and Perenara will walk off the field having completed long and successful careers, so the motivation is there for their team mates to make sure it is a comfortable victory.
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