June 22 (Reuters) - New Zealand rugby coach Dave Rennie named Ardie Savea as captain of his first squad which featuresfour uncapped players for the inaugural Nations Championship tests against France, Italy and Ireland.
• Xavier Numia, Anton Segner, Fehi Fineanganofo and Josh Moorby are the potential debutants in the 34-man squad released by New Zealand Rugby on Monday.
• Savea replaces Scott Barrett, who was captain under former coach Scott Robertson. Barrett is unavailable due to injury for the July tests which start against France on July 4.
• Tamaiti Williams, Fabian Holland and Leicester Fainga’anuku were also ruled out due to injuries.
• "Congratulations also to our new All Blacks captain, Ardie Savea, who we know will do an outstanding job of leading this team on and off-field," Rennie said in a statement. "Ardie is highly respected by his team mates and cares deeply about the black jersey."
• Ruben Love named among three flyhalves with Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Santa Clara, California; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
