Sharks v New Zealand LIVE: Latest updates as All Blacks continue South Africa tour

New Zealand struggled a bit at the scrum against the Stormers, and with Vincent Koch in the front row, one would expect the Sharks to try and get after the tourists in that area. Ethan de Groot is an outstanding loosehead, mind, and there’s plenty of power in the All Blacks pack with an extra long-limbed lineout jumper in Tupou Vaa’i on the blindside. Dave Rennie will be glad his props are getting a good test in these tour games – scrum parity could be crucial come the four games against the Springboks.

It is fair to question whether Ma’a Nonu’s spot in the Sharks 23 might have been better used by a Sharks youngster, but it is undeniably fun for the veteran centre to be facing the All Blacks. It’s remarkable Nonu is still going at 44 – he played at the 2003 World Cup! The absence of Beauden Barrett and Codie Taylor from the New Zealand squad means that there is no-one old enough to have played Test rugby with the centre, but I’m sure he can expect a friendly welcome regardless.

Dave Rennie shuffles his All Blacks side as looks to settle on his best combinations ahead of the four Tests against the Springboks. With Codie Taylor still absent, and Ardie Savea rested for this part of the tour, Luke Jacobson leads New Zealand in Durban with Wallace Sititi fit to feature after a late withdrawal from the game against the Stormers.

Billy Proctor has been ruled out of the rest of the trip with a fractured shoulder, so Quinn Tupaea and Jordie Barrett could well form the centre partnership come the Tests and start together here. Among the replacements are two new faces: hooker Bradley Slater and back rower Semisi Ta’eiloa will pull on All Blacks shirts for the first time.

New Zealand XV: 1 Ethan de Groot, 2 Asafo Aumua, 3 Fletcher Newell; 4 Josh Lord, 5 Sam Darry; 6 Tupou Vaa’i, 7 Luke Jacobson (capt.), 8 Wallace Sititi; 9 Kyle Preston, 10 Ruben Love; 11 Caleb Clarke, 12 Jordie Barrett, 13 Quinn Tupaea, 14 Fehi Fineanganofo; 15 Damian McKenzie

Replacements: 16 Bradley Slater, 17 Ollie Norris, 18 Pasilio Tosi, 19 Ethan Blackadder, 20 Semisi Ta’eiloa; 21 Cortez Ratima, 22 Timoci Tavatavanawai, 23 Emoni Narawa.

The Sharks are without their Springboks contingent but still have two double World Cup winners on which to call, with prop Vincent Koch joining former All Black Ma’a Nonu in the matchday 23. Vusi Moyo is at the other end of his career but the 20-year-old is highly rated, and made his South Africa debut against Wales during the Nations Championship.

Manu Tshituka starts on the blindside flank but brother Vincent was forced to withdraw from the bench after a head injury in training, while teenage talent Zekhethelo Siyaya has caught the eye in a few URC outings at full-back.

Sharks XV: 1 Nemo Roelofse, 2 Eduan Swart, 3 Vincent Koch; 4 Hendre Stassen, 5 Deon Slabbert; 6 Phepsi Buthelezi, 7 Manu Tshituka, 8 Nick Hatton (capt.); 9 Bradley Davids, 10 Vusi Moyo; 11 Litelihele Bester, 12 Murray Koster, 13 Jurenzo Julius, 14 Donavan Don; 15 Zekhethelo Siyaya.

Replacements: 16 Liam van Wyk, 17 Rambo Kubekha, 18 Simphiwe Ngobese, 19 Corne Rahl, 20 Matt Romao; 21 Ivan van Zyl, 22 Luan Giliomee, 23 Ma’a Nonu.

Righty then, kick off is under an hour away at Kings Park on the Durban coast – let’s take a closer look at the two teams.

Stand-in New Zealand captain Luke Jacobson knows his side need to tune in and improve up front after struggling at the set piece and aerially particularly against the Stormers.

“It’s an awesome challenge, an awesome ​opportunity for ⁠us to really dial in on ‌maybe some things that didn’t go as well for us in the last game,” the flanker said this week.

“We know how the South African teams play, they know their game, they’ve got their mauls, their scrums. There’s going to be upfront battles, so we’re going to have to be ready to play that. I thought there were some lessons and it was a great taste of what we were going to get on this tour. I think we’ve made some good adjustments.

“The top level of South African rugby has a really good kicking game, a really good chasing game. I don’t think we’re going to get anything different to what we saw last week in that area.”

Speaking of rugby’s future, I recently spent a chunk of time with Eddie Hearn, who now counts Henry Pollock and Finn Russell amongst his clients. An interesting man, with some interesting, divisive ideas.

There’s quite a lot going on with this tour, which brings together old rivals and may have a huge bearing on rugby’s future – as I attempted to explain last week:

The Springboks, though, weren’t too hot in a fully-fledged Test against a depleted Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday – and lost captain Siya Kolisi to injury. The severity has not been confirmed yet, but Deon Fourie has been called up to the squad as cover for the South Africa skipper.

It wasn’t necessarily a vintage All Blacks performance in Cape Town against the Stormers, even if they eventually got the job done. What bearing will a sloppy showing have on Test selection? It feels like Ruben Love has a chance to seize the No 10 shirt tonight with Beauden Barrett looking short of his best.