All Blacks’ Jordan back for Rugby Championship opener

Fullback/winger Will Jordan has been named to make his first Test appearance since last year’s Rugby World Cup from the bench in the All Blacks team which will play Argentina in the first round of the Rugby Championship.

New Zealand take on the Pumas in Wellington on Saturday and in Auckland the following weekend in the first two rounds of the tournament.

Jordan missed all of the last Super Rugby Pacific season while recovering from shoulder surgery and his only match so far this season has been a pre-season appearance for his Tasman province.

For that reason, head coach Scott Robertson has chosen to ease Jordan back into Test rugby, for his 32nd Test, as a replacement. Beauden Barrett will start at fullback while Sevu Reece and Mark Telea have been named on the wings. Damian McKenzie starts again at No.10.

Anton Lienert-Brown has been named at outside centre, replacing Rieko Ioane who has been out of form this season. Lienert-Brown will combine in midfield with Jordie Barrett while Ioane is on the bench..

Ardie Savea leads the team from No.8 for the ninth time in the absence of lock and captain Scott Barrett who is sidelined with a finger injury.

Otherwise, the team is mostly unchanged from the second Test against England last month. The All Blacks are 3-0 under new head coach Robertson after beating England narrowly in two Tests and Fiji 45-7 in San Diego.

Sam Darry will combine with Tupou Vaa’i in a second row with a combined tally of only 29 Tests. Darry made his debut against Fiji.

TJ Perenara has overcome a knee injury to be named at No.9. Perenara has announced he will leave New Zealand at the end of the season to play in Japan.

Ethan Blackadder has been retained on the blindside flank.

“We’ve laid a solid foundation through the first three Tests of the year and prepared well this week for what will be a physical test against Argentina,” Savea said Thursday in a team statement.

Savea last captained New Zealand in a 96-17 win over Italy in the group stage of last year’s World Cup.

“It’s a special night for Ardie leading the team in his hometown and it’s great to have TJ and Will back in the mix,” Robertson said.

“Once again there were some close selection calls but we’ve picked a squad to win the key contests and perform on Saturday.”

NEW ZEALAND SQUAD:

Beauden Barrett, Sevu Reece, Anton Lienert-Brown, Jordie Barrett, Mark Telea, Damian McKenzie, TJ Perenara, Ardie Savea (capt), Dalton Papali’i, Ethan Blackadder, Sam Darry, Tupou Vaa’i, Tyrel Lomax, Codie Taylor , Ethan de Groot. Reserves: Asafo Aumua, Ofa Tu’ungafasi, Fletcher Newell, Josh Lord, Wallace Sititi, Cortez Ratima, Rieko Ioane, Will Jordan.