News

Donald wins fly-half race for All Blacks

July 15 2009

New Zealand are boosted by the return of captain Richie McCaw and Rodney So'oialo for the Tri-Nations opener against Australia on Saturday.

The back-row pair missed the June Tests against France and Italy to recover from respective knee (McCaw) and neck (So'oialo) injuries.

Stephen Donald gets the start at fly-half ahead of Luke McAlister for the Bledisloe Cup fixture at Auckland's Eden Park.

Both Donald (hamstring) and McAlister (back) had been battling injuries and All Blacks coach Graham Henry delayed naming his team by 24 hours for the coaching staff to ascertain their fitness.

"We are pleased with the way that Stephen has developed since making his debut last year," New Zealand coach Graham Henry said in a statement.

"He played well under difficult circumstances in the two French Tests this year and we believe that he is the right man for this Test match."

Winger Sitiveni Sivivatu is also back after he suffered a shoulder injury during the Super 14 and missed the June Tests.

Hurricanes full-back Cory Jane is named on the right wing, with Joe Rokocoko only making the bench.

"It is a team with a huge amount of experience with 500 caps in the starting XV and that's crucial for what will be a huge test to kick off the Tri-Nations," Henry added.

Meanwhile, Tony Woodcock will be looking forward to resuming his try-scoring feats - he has scored five tries against Australia in the last two years.

The All Blacks and Wallabies have played each other 156 times since 1903, with 106 wins to the All Blacks, 45 to Australia and five draws.

The All Blacks won the last Test between the two countries, 19-14 in Hong Kong last November, and also beat Australia 39-10 in the last Test match at Eden Park in August last year - to extend their unbeaten record at Eden Park to 19 Tests since 1994

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Josevata Rokocoko.

Date: Saturday, July 18
Venue: Eden Park, Auckland
Kick-off: 19:35 (07:35 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Marius Jonker (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO: Vinny Munro (New Zealand)