Wallace Sititi is ruled out of the All Blacks' Greatest Rivalry Series opener against the Stormers on Friday due to mild illness, with Anton Segner starting at 7 and Peter Lakai moving to 8.
Wallace Sititi has been withdrawn from the All Blacks starting XV due to a mild illness ahead of Friday's Greatest Rivalry Series opener against the Stormers at DHL Stadium.
Anton Segner moves into the No.7 jersey, with Peter Lakai shifting to No.8 to cover the void left by Sititi. The rest of the All Blacks lineup remains intact, with Beauden Barrett at flyhalf, Rieko Ioane on the left wing and Josh Moorby at fullback.
Kick-off is at 19h00 SAST, with Karl Dickson refereeing.
Both camps are treating Friday's Stormers-All Blacks tour opener as a de facto test match — driven by internal All Black selection pressure, a 50-year gap since WP last hosted the All Blacks, and the Cape Town venue's importance to the test series.
Richie Mo'unga has satisfied New Zealand Rugby's eligibility requirements for All Blacks selection after scoring Canterbury's match-winning try against Auckland on Saturday, but the fly-half is refusing to be drawn on whether he will join the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour squad in South Africa.
Dave Rennie has confirmed Ardie Savea will join the All Blacks in South Africa 10 days before the August 22 Johannesburg Test after a planned rest, as 43 of the 44-man squad arrived in Cape Town ahead of the August 7 Stormers opener.
Richie Mo'unga scored a match-winning try on his Canterbury return to become eligible for the All Blacks' South Africa tour, but stayed noncommittal when asked whether he would join the squad, which already includes four tens under head coach Dave Rennie.
Dave Rennie confirms Ardie Savea will sit out the Bulls match but join the All Blacks squad in South Africa ten days before the opening Test against the Springboks in Johannesburg on August 22, as 43 of the 44-man touring party arrive in Cape Town via three different routes.