Rieko Ioane could make his Test bow for New Zealand in their Bledisloe Cup return fixture after being called up to the All Black squad by Steve Hansen.
The world champions, who will welcome The British & Irish Lions to their shores next summer, have called up five players to their squad following their 42-8 victory over Australia in Sydney.
As well as Ioane, Chiefs duo Damien McKenzie and Seta Tamanivalu join back up with the squad, while hookers Liam Coltman and James Parsons are also called in.
They have been included because of injuries to George Moala, Ryan Crotty and Waisake Naholo in the backs, as well as Codie Taylor and Nathan Harris up front, while Matt Todd has been released.
Ioane, 19, enjoyed a breakthrough season with the Blues and was then part of the New Zealand team that competed at the Rio 2016 Olympics in rugby sevens.
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And while he is still inexperienced at this level, Hansen expects him to take a lot from his time in camp, and could include him for Saturday’s clash in Wellington.
“He had a very good Super season and he’s really someone that we see in the future that could have a long career,” Hansen said.
“But this environment I’m sure will really test him so we’ll just have to monitor that and see how he copes with it.
The #AllBlacks scored SIX tries in the weekend, but tell us which one was YOUR favourite? #BledisloeCup #AUSvNZLhttps://t.co/eNnSqcHZyA
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) August 21, 2016
“If we think he’s coping well enough with it, then he may get an opportunity. If he’s not then he won’t.
“What I do know is that the time being spent with us will be worthwhile. We’ll get payback for it somewhere, wither in the short term or the long term.”
Australia will also be without a number of players who lined up in Sydney, with Matt Giteau and Rob Horne having been ruled out after going off in the first half of the game.
