All Blacks

Six of the players have been named in the forward pack.

Duke Nginingini will take up the loosehead prop position.

He plays for Karaka in the Counties Manukau club competition.

Joining him is Sam Moli, the younger brother of four-test All Blacks prop Atu.

Dan Lolo has been named in the second row.

Rugbypass reported that the loose forwards are made up entirely of uncapped players, with blindside flanker Mateaki Kafatolu the most experienced of the back row trio after four seasons with Wellington and a brief spell with the Sunwolves last year.

Halfback Genia, a former Australian captain with 110 tests for the Wallabies in a career that has taken him around the world, now plays club rugby in Japan on the back of a successful stint in France.

He’s no stranger to New Zealand shores with frequent Bledisloe Cup and Super Rugby battles and admits he has a soft spot for Kiwi playing fields.

“I’ve always wanted to maybe come over and play in New Zealand for a year or so. That’d be the dream, when I’ve finished,” Genia, 32, told the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.

On Monday, in a post on LinkedIn, Carter said he was honoured to have been appointed a “leader in practice” at the Oxford Foundry, the entrepreneurship centre at the University of Oxford.

“I’ve been given the opportunity to help our future leaders to gain skills in leadership under pressure, developing a mindset of growth, and building strong, collaborative and resilient teams,” Carter said.

Carter said he started his professional rugby career at the age of 20, while his peers were heading off to university.

Retallick spent the past two seasons in Japan on sabbatical but has been whisked straight back into the All Blacks and forms one fifth of a strong locking contingent alongside captain Samuel Whitelock, experienced operators Scott Barrett and Patrick Tuipulotu, and young gun Tupou Vaa’i.

While Retallick wasn’t in Japan on holiday, the second-rower has said that he’s now mentally and physically refreshed after spending the first eight years of his professional career playing week-in and week-out for the Chiefs and All Blacks.

"We want to get our performance at a consistent level that we can really challenge and be the number one team in the world."

The first step towards reclaiming a title they have not held for almost two years has been taken.

Named in Auckland on Monday night, the first All Blacks squad of 2021 includes 36 names.

A big but necessary number, according to Foster.

"We've got four tests in a row in September, we could have up to five in a row in November and we've just come off a big Super Rugby competition.

Make no mistake, the All Blacks understand they have some work to do in their midfield space in general, and the No 12 position in particular as they open a challenging campaign likely to grow to 15 tests with their July series against Tonga (July 3) and Fiji (July 10 and 17).

Havili, who hasn’t represented his country since starting at fullback against a French XV in Lyon in mid-November 2017, has emerged as a leading contender to glue the All Blacks’ midfield together for the three tests against Tonga and Fiji next month.

When All Blacks coach Ian Foster names up to 36 players in his first squad of the year on Monday night he will explain how he intends to fill gaping holes in the middle of his backline.

According to a report from the New Zealand Herald, the All Blacks will be without their most experienced midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown after he underwent minor elbow surgery on Friday.

The Herald reports the 26-year-old’s elbow has been locking up in recent weeks, with scans revealing bone fragment concerns that required minor keyhole surgery.

The successful surgery is expected to leave Lienert-Brown sidelined for New Zealand’s July 3 test against Tonga at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland and the July 10 test against Fiji at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin.

There are just three changes to the starting lineup, all in the forward pack.

Hoskins Sotutu, who debuted in the All Blacks last season, has been elevated back into the starting team at number 8 in place of fellow NZ representative Akira Ioane who drops to the bench.

Sotutu has missed just one game for the Blues this year and was also benched for last weekend’s clash with the Reds. Ioane, meanwhile, has featured in every single game for the Auckland franchise in 2021, either in the starting lineup or from the reserves.

From today, the former All Black captain known as Buck, upgrades to Sir Wayne "Buck" Shelford.

And this time it is official.

Shelford's knighthood for services to rugby and the community in the Queen's Birthday Honours was not a surprise to his wife, Jo, who had played a part in helping those people in Māoridom who had nominated him.

"I put this letter [from Government House] in front of her and she just looked at me and laughed," Shelford said of his own discovery that he was among the four New Zealanders to be knighted today.