New Zealand: Sam Cane retained as captain as All Blacks name squad for tour to South Africa

All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has kept changes to a minimum in his 36-man squad for the South African leg of the Rugby Championship, with experienced back-row Sam Cane retained as captain.

After their recent series defeat to Ireland on home soil, there was speculation that Cane would be replaced as the team’s skipper but he has kept his position.

Foster has also named the bulk of the players who were in his squad for the Ireland series with the notable exceptions being Highlanders forwards Ethan de Groot (front-row) and Shannon Frizell (back-row).

The duo provided injury cover for the Ireland Tests and Foster has once again named Braydon Ennor (utility back), Tyrel Lomax (front-row) and the uncapped Josh Dickson (second-row) for similar roles as Angus Ta’avao, Brodie Retallick and Jack Goodhue are still sidelined through suspension and injuries.

Apart from Dickson, Blues utility back Stephen Perofeta is the only other player in the squad who has not played at Test level yet.

“We have taken on board the lessons from the Steinlager series and are excited about looking forward to the next phase of our Test season,” said Foster.

“The Lipovitan-D Rugby Championship plus the Bledisloe Cup remain our top priorities. This is a real chance to show what we are about as a team.”

Meanwhile, New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson said: “The past fortnight has been a challenging time for us and of course our fans.

“There have been some thorough conversations this week, as there always are around our performance environments, and these will continue. “It’s exciting to be heading back to South Africa for the first time in several years – we have two big games ahead of us there and our focus now is to support the team to improve