Four All Blacks whose international careers are at a crossroads

Scott Robertson’s All Blacks squad to face France in a week’s time featured five uncapped players, with another two uncapped players coming in as cover.

As the squad builds towards 2027 many careers sit in the balance ahead of a pivotal year in Robertson’s second-year in charge.

Here are the All Blacks that find themselves at a crossroads in terms of their international futures.

Ethan de Groot

The Highlanders loosehead tops the list of players facing the most pressure to retain their place in the All Blacks.

De Groot fell out of favour at the end of 2024, losing his starting role based on disciplinary reasons and not ‘meeting internal standards’. His form on the pitch was also under question throughout 2024, not reaching the heights of the previous two seasons.

After an indifferent season with the Highlanders, De Groot needs to find the 2022 form that saw him transform the All Black front row with Tyrel Lomax and Samisoni Taukei’aho.

With Crusaders’ prop Tamaiti Williams anchoring both sides of the scrum and capable of playing loosehead, the All Blacks have plenty of options. Williams started a lot of the season in the No.1 jersey for the champions. The All Blacks have also drafted in 25-year-old rookie Ollie Norris, a stand out performer from the most dominant scrum in the competition.

With young players breathing down his neck, 2025 is a big year for De Groot to prove he is the number one loosehead available.

Anton Lienert-Brown

A mainstay of Ian Foster’s midfield from 2020-2022, the 84 Test veteran has taken a different role over the last few seasons within the All Blacks set up. Starts have been rare with some brief appearances off the bench.

Robertson opted with a ‘pick and stick’ strategy with his midfield last season, playing Jordie Barrett and Rieko Ioane all year.

The emergence of Billy Proctor as the form centre in Super Rugby has heaped pressure on Ioane to retain his starting role, but that only intensifies the pressure on Lienert-Brown to retain his place in the squad altogether.

More injuries prevented Lienert-Brown from making a title run with the Chiefs, and he was named in the All Blacks squad despite being sidelined. Emoni Narawa was named as his replacement cover.

Lienert-Brown is still only 30 years old, but 2027 looks more and more like a bridge too far. The other midfielders bring more dynamism to the squad than the steady hand of Lienert-Brown, who continually battles injuries.

2025 will be a defining year for the versatile centre whose contract is up at the end of 2026.

Samipeni Finau 

The 8-cap blindside flanker enters 2025 as the only specialist No.6 in the squad, but it cannot be said that he has guaranteed his place in the All Blacks going forward.

The All Blacks found a winning formula with his Chiefs teammate Wallace Sititi in the No.6 jersey last year, with the blockbusting Test rookie claiming World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year award.

Sititi has been ruled out of the July series with injury, opening the door for Finau to establish himself again as the premier No.6.

This position has troubled the All Blacks for some time now. During the turbulent Ireland series in 2022 Akira Ioane was the starter, and a month later Shannon Frizell established himself as the best option as they found their best combination.

Frizell’s winning percentage with the All Blacks was impressive, and without him they often struggled for whatever reason. However, that solution was short-lived when Frizell took a long-term deal in Japan following the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Finau enters the 2025 season with the most opportunity of any All Black. He can really boost his stock if he can solve the No.6 conundrum with Sititi and Jacobson sidelined and Ethan Blackadder not selected in the squad. If he doesn’t, it could spell a quick end to his All Black future.

Rieko Ioane

Ioane’s international career is not at risk but he does find himself at a crossroad ahead of the 2025 season.

For the last three seasons Ioane has held a mortgage over the No.13 jersey. His best season was probably the 2022 one, where he produced a man-of-the-match performance at Ellis Park in a 35-23 win over the Springboks. With a run-it-from-deep strategy at altitude, Ioane on the outside had multiple clean breaks as the All Blacks ran riot.

Down the stretch that season Ioane was in space frequently, scoring a blistering try at Twickenham against England.

Under Vern Cotter at the Blues over the last two seasons has seen Ioane get less of those opportunities at club level. He came into the international season last year without having set up a lot of tries or line breaks. It’s the same story this season.

Except this year there is Billy Proctor who is in career form, putting the most pressure on Ioane to remain the out-and-out starter.

Many have floated the idea of Ioane simply moving back to the wing, forgetting that he last played there over five years ago. It goes without saying, Ioane at 28-years-old is not the same as the 23-year-old version. Seeing Ioane gunned down by Andrew Kellaway during Super Rugby Pacific does not support the idea that Ioane can just move back to the wing.

Ioane is a centre, except he might not be the best one in the All Blacks squad.

When France last toured with a second-rate team in 2018, Ioane shined with a handful of tries. A series where Ioane features heavily in some big wins will ease that pressure. If he can’t carve up the French C team, it could see the start of the shift to Proctor.