{"id":14230,"date":"2025-07-02T20:26:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T00:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/all-blacks-debut-robertson-launches-new-era-with-four-debutants\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T20:26:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T00:26:08","slug":"all-blacks-debut-robertson-launches-new-era-with-four-debutants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/rugby\/all-blacks-debut-robertson-launches-new-era-with-four-debutants\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks debut: Robertson launches new era with four debutants"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>The All Blacks Reveal Their Lineup for the Season Debut<\/h2>\n\nThe All Blacks coach, Scott Robertson, has started a new phase, with four debutants in the starting team for New Zealand&#8217;s opening match against France in Dunedin.\n\nRobertson announced on Thursday Christian Lio-Willie and Fabian Holland as number 8 and second row, respectively, with prop Ollie Norris and flanker Du&#8217;Plessis Kirifi on the bench.\n\nLio-Willie is perhaps the most surprising inclusion, as the Crusaders player was originally only called up to the extended squad as injury cover.\n\nHowever, a knee injury to Wallace Sititi, which has ruled him out for the entire series against France, created the opportunity for Lio-Willie to enter the considerations and will now play alongside Holland.\n\nThe Highlanders&#8217; second row is one of the most amazing stories of recent times, given that he left the Netherlands at 16 to pursue his rugby dream in New Zealand.\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2025%2F0703%2Fr1514221_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/figure>\n\n\nChristian Lio-Willie will make his debut as a starter at number 8 in the All Blacks&#8217; opening match against France.\n\nIt is combined with captain Scott Barrett in the second row, while Tupou Vaa&#8217;i starts at number 6, indicating how Robertson wants to play.\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>This is an important moment for these men and their families; we are all excited for them.<\/p><cite>Scott Robertson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\nFor Fabian and Christian, it will be special to debut in front of the local Dunedin fans and I am sure that Fabian&#8217;s Highlanders supporters and Christian&#8217;s Otago fans will be in full force.\n\nOllie and Du&#8217;Plessis have shown their class in Super Rugby this year and we know they are ready.\n\nThe inclusion of Lio-Willie, meanwhile, pushes Ardie Savea back to his usual position as number 7 after having spent much of the last few years at number 8 for the All Blacks.\n\nMeanwhile, Beauden Barrett has overtaken Damian McKenzie to be the first five-eighth, while Rieko Ioane has moved back to the wing to make way for the in-form Billy Proctor.\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Zealand Lineup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Will Jordan, Sevu Reece, Billy Proctor, Jordie Barrett, Rieko Ioane, Beauden Barrett, Cam Roigard<\/li><li>Christian Lio-Willie, Ardie Savea, Tupou Vaa&#8217;i, Fabian Holland, Scott Barrett, Fletcher Newell, Codie Taylor, Ethan de Groot.<\/li><li>Substitutes: Samisoni Taukei&#8217;aho, Ollie Norris, Pasilio Tosi, Samipeni Finau, Du&#8217;Plessis Kirifi, Cortez Ratima, Damian McKenzie, Quinn Tupaea.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The All Blacks Reveal Their Lineup for the Season Debut The All Blacks coach, Scott Robertson, has started a new phase, with four debutants in the starting team for New Zealand&#8217;s opening match against France in Dunedin. Robertson announced on Thursday Christian Lio-Willie and Fabian Holland as number 8 and second row, respectively, with prop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[4551,5246,203,5247],"class_list":{"0":"post-14230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-all-blacks","9":"tag-debutantes","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-scott-robertson"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}