Richie Mo'unga returns at fly-half for New Zealand against South Africa
Richie Mo'unga will start at fly-half for the All Blacks
©Steve Haag
New Zealand head coach Ian Foster has named Richie Mo'unga at fly-half for the second round of the Rugby Championship clash against South Africa to be played in Auckland.
Mo’unga will replace Damian McKenzie with the latter dropped out of the matchday squad.
In other changes Will Jordan comes at right wing at the expense of Emoni Narawa while Mark Telea replaces Caleb Clarke at left wing.
The second row gets a boost with Brodie Retallick coming in and joining Scott Barrett with the final change coming in Codie Taylor replacing Dane Coles. Crusaders prop Tamaiti Williams could make his All Blacks debut when he comes off the bench.
“Any Test against South Africa is a special occasion,” said Foster.
“There is a lot of respect between the two nations and that usually translates to an epic battle on the field.
“This will be a significant challenge and we are determined to grow after a solid start to the Lipovitan-D Rugby Championship in Argentina last week.
"It has been four years since we last played South Africa here in New Zealand so that also makes it special.”
New Zealand XV: 15 Beauden Barrett, 14 Will Jordan, 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jordie Barrett, 11 Mark Telea, 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Ardie Savea, 7 Sam Cane (c), 6 Shannon Frizell, 5 Scott Barrett, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Tyrel Lomax, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Ethan de Groot
Reserves: 16 Samisoni Taukei’aho, 17 Tamaiti Williams, 18 Nepo Laulala, 19 Tupou Vaa’i, 20 Dalton Papali’i, 21 Finlay Christie, 22 Braydon Ennor, 23 Caleb Clarke
