July 16 (Reuters) - Tupou Vaa'i has been shifted from lock to blindside flanker in the All Blacks' starting XV to face Ireland in the Nations Championship at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday, as head coach Dave Rennie made four changes to the side which beat Italy.
• Josh Moorby, who made his debut last week against Italy, has been rewarded with a first start, while Quinn Tupaea returns to the centre and Josh Lord and Patrick Tuipulotu will form the second row.
• Xavier Numia and Anton Segner, who both made their debuts in recent tests, have been named on the bench.
• “We have selected a strong team that allows some of the combinations we have tested to continue building, and rewards players who have impressed over the last two rounds, including some of our recent debutants,” Rennie said in a statement on Thursday.
• New Zealand are second in the Southern Hemisphere standings in the Nations Championship, level withSouth Africa on points, following their wins over Italy and France.
• New Zealand team: 15–Damian McKenzie, 14–Will Jordan, 13–Quinn Tupaea, 12–Jordie Barrett, 11–Josh Moorby, 10–Ruben Love, 9–Cam Roigard, 8–Ardie Savea (captain), 7–Luke Jacobson, 6–Tupou Vaa'i, 5–Patrick Tuipulotu, 4–Josh Lord, 3–Tyrel Lomax, 2–Codie Taylor, 1–Ethan de Groot.
• Replacements: 16–Asafo Aumua, 17–Xavier Numia, 18–Fletcher Newell, 19–Anton Segner, 20–Peter Lakai, 21–Cortez Ratima, 22–Anton Lienert-Brown, 23–Caleb Clarke.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in BengaluruEditing by Shri Navaratnam)
