All Blacks squad to face Samoa & the British & Irish Lions

All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hanson has confirmed his squad to face Samoa and the British & Irish Lions.

The squad has two uncapped players with Hurricanes duo Jordie Barrett and Ngani Laumape making the squad. 

All Blacks Head Coach Steve Hansen said: "Firstly, on behalf of the All Blacks, the selectors would like to congratulate all players selected for the DHL New Zealand Lions Series, especially the new All Blacks.

"Obviously, it's a very special occasion for the Barrett and Laumape families, with Jordie and Ngani being selected for the first time.  Jordie has been in outstanding form, he has a skillset which is complete and has a great running and kicking game.  Ngani too has been impressive throughout the Super season and has forced his way in through commanding performances," Hansen said.

"This has been by far the toughest team that we've had to select for some time and some players who are in very good form missed out, and we always feel for them.  But as is the nature of Test rugby I'm sure a number of them will get an opportunity, if not in this Series, then throughout the season."

The squad will again be captained by number eight Kieran Read with Ben Smith as Vice-Captain, and the makeup of the squad sees 17 forwards selected (three hookers, five props, four locks and five loose forwards) and 16 backs (three halfbacks, three first five-eighths, three midfielders and six outside backs) and has a total of 1,164 Test caps experience and an average of 35 Test caps per player.

Squad:

Forwards:

Hookers
Dane Coles (Wellington, 49)
Codie Taylor (Canterbury, 15)
Nathan Harris (Bay of Plenty, 4)

Props
Wyatt Crockett (Canterbury, 58)
Charlie Faumuina (Auckland, 46)
Owen Franks (Canterbury, 90)
Joe Moody (Canterbury, 24)
Ofa Tu'ungafasi (Auckland, 4)

Locks
Scott Barrett (Taranaki, 4)
Brodie Retallick (Hawke's Bay, 60)
Luke Romano (Canterbury, 26)
Samuel Whitelock (Canterbury, 84)

Loose Forwards
Sam Cane (Bay of Plenty, 40)
Jerome Kaino (Auckland, 74)
Kieran Read, captain (Counties Manukau, 97)
Ardie Savea (Wellington, 12)
Liam Squire (Tasman, 8)

Backs:
      
Halfbacks
Tawera Kerr-Barlow (Waikato, 25)
TJ Perenara (Wellington, 29)
Aaron Smith (Manawatu, 58)
      
First five-eighths
Beauden Barrett (Taranaki, 49)
Aaron Cruden (Manawatu, 47)
Lima Sopoaga (Southland, 6)
      
Midfielders
Ryan Crotty (Canterbury, 26)
Ngani Laumape (Manawatu, uncapped)
Anton Lienert-Brown (Waikato, 9)
Sonny Bill Williams (Counties Manukau, 33)
      
Outside backs
Jordie Barrett (Taranaki, uncapped)
Israel Dagg (Hawke's Bay, 61)
Rieko Ioane (Auckland, 2)
Waisake Naholo (Taranaki, 12)
Julian Savea (Wellington, 52)
Ben Smith (Otago, 60)

The selectors have also named the following five players as injury cover: midfielder Jack Goodhue, hooker Liam Coltman and loose forwards Matt Todd, Vaea Fifita and Akira Ioane.