Beauden Barrett to captain All Blacks for first time as Mo'unga returns against Wales
Beauden Barrett will captain the All Blacks for the first time in his career during the upcoming Nations Championship match against Wales. The team features several changes, including the return of fly-half Richie Mo'unga.
Why it matters
As a major international rugby event, the team selection and captaincy changes are of high interest to global sports fans and analysts.
Audio player for " Weekly Sports Panel: Abby Wilson and Dana Johannsen " removed for printing
Visit page to play audio: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9._v0.KrRTFtoPsaA8nSDloPZ4KejQJr59ANQpD9ULgGwzaM0/sport/2565994%2Fbeauden-barrett-to-captain-all-blacks-for-first-time-as-mo-unga-returns-against-wales
Beauden Barrett will captain New Zealand for the first time in his 149th Test after being retained at full-back in a much-changed side for Saturday's Nations Championship clash against Wales in Cardiff.
Richie Mo'unga, meanwhile, returns at fly-half in one of eight changes to the starting XV that overwhelmed Scotland 43-21 in the November opener in Edinburgh last week as the All Blacks remained unbeaten in the inaugural Nations Championship following a trio of wins in July.
Mo'unga hasn't featured since the fourth Test against South Africa in Baltimore in September, when New Zealand were beaten 43-28 as they suffered a 3-1 series defeat by the world champions.
A calf tear then ruled him out of the Bledisloe Cup clashes with Australia.
Also covering this story
One other newsroom covered this event. We read that version too.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in