All Blacks v Italy: Assistant coach Jason Ryan tight-lipped on rotation talk
All Blacks v Italy, Saturday, 5.10pm
Listen to live commentary on Newstalk ZB Sport and iHeartRadio
The “best” All Blacks team will be selected to face Italy, with assistant coach Jason Ryan remaining tight-lipped on suggestions there might be rotation of players in the side.
Fellow assistant coach Neil Barnes suggested there had been plenty of debate about whether to rotate the squad for this weekend’s match in Wellington, but Ryan was less forthcoming when asked if some newer names could make the starting XV.
“Potentially, I think that we’ve got good trust in our whole squad here,” Ryan said.
“So look, we’ll pick the best team.”
When pressed on whether this means there won’t be any rotation, Ryan came back with a simple response.
“We’ll always put our best team out.”
The new All Blacks regime under Dave Rennie started with a nervy 34-32 win over France, having just 10 days to prepare for the fixture.
Ryan felt positive about the result and how the team will look to move forward from it.
“Before every test match, you have that excitement I guess, and there’s a little bit of unknown of where the boys are at.
“I think we transferred a lot of good skill execution work in different areas.
“We applied it pretty well in the first test, so it’s definitely good to get the first one under the belt for the year.”
Xavier Numia, Jamie Hannah and Fehi Fineanganofo all made their test debuts, while Wallace Sititi returned from a head injury that kept him out of the Chiefs’ final two Super Rugby games, including the grand final.
Italy, who will play against the All Blacks in New Zealand for the first time since 2009, started their Nations Championship campaign with a 27-10 loss to Japan despite taking the lead in the fifth minute through a try by centre Ignacio Brex.
Japan hit back with two converted tries before the 20th minute and only allowed Italy to score again through a 40th-minute penalty.