All Blacks

Cane, who led the All Blacks to the defence of the Bledisloe Cup and the Tri Nations title in his first year as skipper, claimed the Kelvin R Tremain Memorial award during a made-for-TV special on Sky Sport.

At the start of the year no-one dared predict openside flanker Cane, who replaced Kieran Read when he retired from test rugby after the World Cup in Japan, would have to negotiate such a difficult year.

Having completed their Tri Nations programme in Australia, where they won the competition and also retained the Bledisloe Cup, the All Blacks were required to spend a fortnight in quarantine when they came back to New Zealand.

Now they are free to go home and enjoy their off-season before returning for training with their clubs next year to prepare for Super Rugby Aotearoa.

All Blacks stars Ardie Savea and Aaron Smith posted similar photos to Instagram. They were wearing masks as they prepared to leave their hotels on Monday morning.

The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic meant the national men's side played just six matches this year.

But they were set to play more than double that next year, after NZR chief executive Mark Robinson provided an update on Thursday after the organisation's final board meeting of the year.

The proposed scheduled included an opener against Fiji and two matches against Italy in New Zealand in July, a return to a full rugby Championship and an end of year tour to Europe for games against Italy, Ireland, and France.

Squire last played for the team in 2019 and has been back in New Zealand rehabilitating an injury after a brief stint playing in Japan, he is expected to be back to full fitness by the time the competition starts on February 26th.

The former test blindside will join Japanese World Cup player Kazuki Himeno, Crusader Billy Harmon and James Lentjes in the loose forwards, with the latter returning from injury after missing Super Rugby Aotearoa in 2020.

The 38-year-old Carter has started a #keeptheballgoing social media campaign that encourages people to check in on three of their friends to "keep the conversation going" about mental health.

While Carter has achieved virtually everything in the game, including winning two World Cups and three world player of the year titles, his career has also had some difficult lows, particularly around injuries.

He said the groin injury that prematurely ended his 20121 World Cup at home had been particularly testing.

New Zealand captain Sam Cane laid down an All Blacks jersey with ‘10 Maradona’ – his regular playing number – imprinted on the back of it in front of the Pumas players prior to kick-off in Newcastle.

Maradona, one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game and Argentina's most revered sportsperson, died earlier this week.

There was a small hiccup in the pre-game ceremonies in the ‘Welcome to Country’ when Aboriginal elder Uncle Bill Smith referred to the All Blacks’ opposition as The Netherlands during the ritual.

The All Blacks were facing the prospect of three straight defeats for the first time in 22 years after losses to Argentina and the Wallabies.

But they comfortably prevented that, leading 10-0 at halftime before pulling away with four second half tries, including two to Will Jordan which gave the All Blacks a bonus point win.

The All Blacks' five tries means they will secure the title if Argentina or Australia do not win the final match of the tournament in Sydney next weekend by a substantial margin.

The former NSW Blues and Knights halfback was invited to training by Wallabies attack coach Scott Wisemantel on Thursday.

Johns, who previously dropped in on Eddie Jones' England camp during their 3-0 whitewash series win in Australia in 2016, only spent 30 minutes with the Wallabies but his appearance went down a treat.

It's believed Johns had hoped to fly under the radar but Wallabies halfback Nic White let the cat out of the bag by posting a photo on his Instagram account.

So, will normal service resume in Newcastle? Or will Los Pumas be able to repeat their Sydney heroics?

Coach Ian Foster is feeling the strain with some fans already calling for him to be sacked, but he's not ready to back down and is confident his side will win Saturday night's test.

Ledesma had made only minor tweaks to his side for last week's clash against the Wallabies after the breakthrough win over New Zealand in their tournament opener, but drew fully on his squad for Thursday's team announcement.

Nicolas Sanchez, who has scored all of Argentina's 40 points in their first two matches, remains at first-five with inspirational captain Pablo Matera and Marcos Kremer retained in the back row and Guido Petti at lock.