- Title: Hansen reshuffles All Blacks after Moody eye injury
- Date: 8th November 2018
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (NOVEMBER 8, 2018) (REUTERS) MOODY'S REPLACEMENT AT LOOSEHEAD PROP, KARL TU'INUKUAFE (LEFT), TRAINING TRAINING SESSION HANSEN WATCHING SONNY BILL WILLIAMS LYING ON HIS BACK DOING WARM UP EXERCISES WILLIAMS PICKING UP A BALL AND RUNNING, PASSING FLY-HALF BEAUDEN BARRETT PICKING UP BALL AT TRAINING TRAINING WILLIAMS RUNNING WITH BALL HANSEN WITH ASSISTANT COACHES AT TRAINING TRAINING SESSION PLAYERS RUNNING
- Embargoed: 22nd November 2018 17:04
- Keywords: England All Blacks Rugby Union
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK/ AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
- City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK/ AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Rugby Union,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA00395NBNSV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:An injury to Joe Moody has forced All Blacks coach Steve Hansen to tweak his strongest possible side for their November test against England in London on Saturday (November 10).
Moody suffered a torn eyelid during training earlier this week and has been ruled out for up to six weeks, with Karl Tu'inukuafe replacing him as loosehead prop at Twickenham.
"Joe Moody has found a way to get himself injured in unusual fashion this year," Hansen said in Thursday's squad announcement.
"Anyone else it would probably have missed his eye.
"(The) plastic surgeon has recommended six weeks and as our doctor described it, your eyelid is your window washer so if you've got half of it missing... it will impact your eyesight long term, so we need to make sure he is okay."
Hansen has also decided to stick with the dual playmaker options he used against Australia in Yokohama last month with Damian McKenzie retained at fullback and Beauden Barrett at fly-half.
Richie Mo'unga, who impressed at fly-half against Japan last week in Tokyo, has also been named in the match-day 23.
Aaron Smith, who was on the bench for the Australia game, has regained the starting scrumhalf role from TJ Perenara, who drops into the replacements.
Centre Jack Goodhue has also returned to the starting side after he missed both tests in Japan due to glandular fever. He flew straight to England from New Zealand.
Goodhue will link with Sonny Bill Williams in the midfield with an eye on next year's Rugby World Cup.
Hansen has already seen how well Williams and Ryan Crotty play together, but with Goodhue fast developing as the first-choice centre, the coach wants to see how the pair gel.
Former starting hooker Dane Coles has also returned to the 23, but will come off the bench after Codie Taylor took his game to new levels this year.
Coles started last week's win over Japan after a serious knee injury that he sustained against France last November kept him on the sidelines for all of this year.
Team: 15-Damian McKenzie, 14-Ben Smith, 13-Jack Goodhue, 12-Sonny Bill Williams, 11-Rieko Ioane, 10-Beauden Barrett, 9-Aaron Smith, 8-Kieran Read (captain), 7-Ardie Savea, 6-Liam Squire, 5-Brodie Retallick, 4-Sam Whitelock, 3-Owen Franks, 2-Codie Taylor, 1-Karl Tu'inukuafe.
Replacements: 16-Dane Coles, 17-Ofa Tuungafasi, 18-Nepo Laulala, 19-Scott Barrett, 20-Matt Todd, 21-TJ Perenara, 22-Richie Mo'unga, 23-Ryan Crotty.
Eddie Jones says the discussion about whether the Twickenham crowd should respect or drown out the All Blacks' haka had no relevance to him, adding that the Spice Girls could be singing for all the attention he will give the issue.
England face New Zealand for the first time in four years on Saturday and the vast majority of the 82,000 crowd will belt out the loudest-possible rendition of their "Swing Low" anthem to drown out the pre-match haka war-dance performed by the visitors.
The sport's governing body World Rugby has instructed teams to respect the traditional challenge, where the players poke out their tongues, bulge their eyes and slap their thighs in an attempt to unsettle their opponents.
Teams have tried various ways to deal with it, including nose to nose confrontation and declining to face it, and the England fans' response divides opinion.
Asked where he stood on the issue, Australian Jones told reporters on Thursday: "At that stage of the game, they could be playing the Spice Girls and I wouldn't know what's being played.
"They're making a comeback aren't they, the Spice girls? Maybe they could sing at that time. It's got not relevance to me at all."
The hugely successful British all-girl band of the late 1990s announced this week that they will get back together for a tour next year, although their only London appearance is scheduled for Wembley rather than Twickenham.
Chris Ashton has taken the long way round back to the England team but timed his return just right as he prepares to start his first international for four years against New Zealand in the most eagerly-awaited fixture of Eddie Jones's tenure.
Following his conversion from rugby league in 2007 Ashton was at the peak of his powers when he delivered a classic "Ash Splash" try in the famous 2012 Twickenham victory over the All Blacks as his ability to "sniff a try" from all over the pitch made him one of the most prolific players in the game.
In the following years, however, his international star began to wane as a combination of injury, suspension and coach opinion meant he dropped down the pecking order and he missed the 2015 World Cup, having scored six tries in the 2011 edition.
Still a devastating finisher as he helped Saracens to European and domestic glory, two bans hamstrung his England hopes in 2016 and he appeared to have called time on international rugby when he joined French club Toulon in 2017 - ruling him out of England selection.
However, Ashton decided he still wanted a tilt at the 2019 World Cup, cut short his French sojourn and returned to his northern English homeland to join Sale this year.
As a nudge to Jones, Ashton lined up against England for the Barbarians in a non-cap match in May and scored a spectacular hat-trick as the touring team handed out a 63-45 thrashing.
His hopes of building on that with a strong showing for Sale were derailed before the season had begun, though, as he incurred a seven-week ban for a dangerous tackle in a friendly game.
Jones, despite his oft-quoted mantra of picking on form, kept him in his training squads for the November internationals and, in his only appearance for his new club so far, he scored a hat-trick in a European Challenge Cup win over Connacht.
Initially overlooked for last week's game against South Africa, the 31-year-old was added to the bench after Manu Tuilagi withdrew and Ashton raised one of the biggest cheers of the day when he entered the fray 15 minutes from the end of England's 12-11 victory - earning his first cap for four years.
Jones obviously enjoyed the cameo too as on Thursday he named him to start against New Zealand, with Jack Nowell dropping to the bench.
The coach played down the switch, insisting it was merely a "change of order", but that won't stop Ashton enjoying walking out with the number 14 shirt on his back.
"Against New Zealand the 80 minutes are important," Jones told reporters on Thursday. "Jack has got an incredible work rate so we feel he'll be enormously valuable for us in the last 20 minutes.
"But Chris can sniff a try from anywhere. To beat New Zealand you have got to score tries. He's in good form and has looked sharp, so we've given him the nod to start."
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Ed Osmond)
((mitch.phillips@thomsonreuters.com;))
Filmed at The Lensbury, near Twickenham
Interviews with:
Steve Hansen - New Zealand Head Coach
Owen Franks
Jack Goodhue
Beauden Barrett
Rieko Ioane - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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