All Blacks squad: Five takeaways as Scott Robertson provides ‘clear’ Ardie Savea sign but ‘utter devastation’ for unlucky quartet
Ardie Savea in action against France and All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson.
Following the announcement of the All Blacks squad for the Rugby Championship, here are our five takeaways from Scott Robertson’s selections.
The top line
The All Blacks have named a 36-strong squad for the Rugby Championship, three more than they selected for the recent mid-year series with France.
It is primarily the same group of players, albeit Robertson has added rookie Simon Parker, Emoni Narawa, who was only injury cover in July, and Peter Lakai into the mix. Parker is one of four more newbies who will train with the All Blacks after several individuals made their Test debuts in the recent July Tests.
The Chiefs back-rower is the only uncapped player among the main 36, however, with the other three there as injury cover, which rather shows the issues the head coach has to deal with ahead of the Rugby Championship. There is just two weeks before the start of the competition but the make-up of that 23 is very much unknown despite New Zealand retaining a strong core for the Argentina double header.
The likes of Scott Barrett, Codie Taylor, Ardie Savea, Jordie Barrett and Will Jordan are guaranteed starters but how they fit the pieces around them remains to be seen. It depends on availability and Robertson’s preferences after what he saw in the 3-0 series victory over Les Bleus.
Injuries pile up
As already intimated, the All Blacks are in the midst of a mini injury crisis. While they have been boosted by the return of three players in Tamaiti Williams, Wallace Sititi and Lakai, it is the current absentee list which will concern Robertson the most.
New Zealand’s biggest problem comes at scrum-half where two of the three that were named in the squad for the mid-year Tests are currently on the sidelines. That includes starter, and for whom the All Blacks hinge so much on, in Cam Roigard, who has suffered a stress fracture in his foot.
Third choice half-back Noah Hotham is also out at the moment and will certainly miss the Argentina double header, which means Cortez Ratima is pretty much already locked into the All Blacks XV to face Los Pumas.
Of course, that is unless Finlay Christie and Kyle Preston – the two players covering for Roigard and Hotham – can do enough in training to usurp Ratima, who has yet to truly convince at Test level.
Elsewhere, Tyrel Lomax, Caleb Clarke and Luke Jacobson are definitely out of the Rugby Championship opener, while two of the Barretts, Scott and Beauden, have been nursing injuries. Although both should recover in time for the first Los Pumas clash, it has hardly been ideal preparation for Robertson.
More rookies involved
Two of those have already been mentioned in Parker and Preston but they have been joined by prop Tevita Mafileo and Leroy Carter, who are training with the squad as injury cover for Lomax and Clarke. This comes after six players made their international bows in the 3-0 series triumph over Les Bleus last month.
However, this seems more like necessity over design from Robertson, with the All Blacks simply desperate for players due to the sheer number of casualties. Of the newbies, only Parker has been selected in the main 36, which for one shows just how highly he is rated but also displays the injury issues they are currently dealing with.
It will be fascinating to see whether the Chiefs back-rower will be involved against Argentina after a fine Super Rugby Pacific campaign. He himself struggled with injury at the end of the season, which was perhaps the reason for his omission from the July series, but he is now fully fit and available for selection.
Parker is a sizeable unit capable of playing at both flanker and number eight, and was the Chiefs’ first choice six over Samipeni Finau in 2025. While Tupou Vaa’i impressed in that role for the All Blacks against the French, Parker could well be the answer to their blindside problems.
The Ardie Savea sign
Another key thing to note about the Parker inclusion is his ability to play at the base of the scrum. With Lakai and Sititi also involved, and the possible presence of Jacobson later down the line, that means Robertson has plenty of number eight options at his disposal, suggesting that the All Blacks clearly see Savea as the long-term openside.
Injury – rather the watchword for this squad announcement – forced Robertson to reshuffle the pack in the final Test, with Savea shifting from openside following Jacobson’s withdrawal, but they now have plenty of cover in that slot should a similar scenario arise.
It will no doubt please the supporters, who have been urging the New Zealand head coach to pick the 31-year-old at flanker. After a stellar season for Moana Pasifika in the number seven jersey, that looks to be his slot heading towards the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
The big omissions
Of course, no international squad comes without disappointment and for a few players, they will be utterly devastated and, in some cases, surprised to miss out. That will particularly be the case for Christian Lio-Willie, who started Tests one and two during the France series, but is surprisingly not among these 42 names for the Rugby Championship.
Lio-Willie was initially only there is injury cover for the July Tests but was then handed an opportunity in the team and seemed to take it, only for Robertson to make this call after the 3-0 whitewash.
He is not the only one left frustrated, though, with Dalton Papali’i, who featured in the final Test last month, also missing out. Meanwhile, a favourite of the head coach, Ethan Blackadder, has once again been overlooked and suggests that Robertson has concerns about his durability after being plagued with injuries over the past few years.
Finally, scrum-half Folau Fakatava will wonder where his Test future lies as Robertson has effectively told him that he is not in the top five scrum-halves in New Zealand. Fakatava is remarkably talented but, at the moment, his game is just too loose for Test rugby and you wonder whether a move abroad will come at some point.