All Blacks ponder backline options as Caleb Clarke ruled out for England clash

Monday, 10 November 2025

Caleb Clarke will miss the England test at Twickenham after entering the 12-day stand-down period for a head knock.

Blockbusting wing Caleb Clarke has been ruled out for the weekend’s potential Grand Slam clincher against England at Twickenham after his head knock in the 25-17 victory over Scotland.

All Blacks assistant coach Jason Holland on Monday (NZT) confirmed Clarke, who played a strong 44 minutes in Edinburgh before succumbing to a failed HIA, had entered the sport’s mandatory 12-day stand-down for such injuries.

“It’s unlucky for him,” said Holland of his first-choice left wing who has battled ankle injuries in 2025, able to play in just three tests this season. “He’s been good. He’s come back in the second half of this year really fit and strong, and enjoying his footy. He’s playing, he’s having a crack, he’s offloading, and he’s loving the contests in the air.”

Holland also confirmed skipper Scott Barrett was “tracking well” to be available for selection after missing the Scotland test with a laceration to his leg. “A decision will be made on that in the middle part of the week.”

The All Blacks have a multitude of options to replace Clarke in the No 11 jersey, with Rieko Ioane, Billy Proctor, Sevu Reece, Anton Lienert-Brown and Damian McKenzie all hovering as potential replacements, with centre Leicester Fainga’anuku’s ability to push back on to the wing an obvious consideration.

They could slot either Ioane or Reece straight on to the wing as a direct replacement, or they could move Will Jordan to the right wing, switch Leroy Carter to the left and bring in McKenzie, off his star turn off the bench at Murrayfield, as starting fullback.

They could also move in-form centre Fainga’anuku out a spot where he’s equally comfortable and bring in either Ioane, Proctor or Lienert-Brown at centre

All Blacks Will Jordan and Leicester Fainga’anuku could be prospects to move spots with Caleb Clarke ruled out for England.

Holland admitted it was “tempting” to leave Quinn Tupaea and Fainga’anuku in their midfield roles and give them another big test to firm up what is a new combination, with first-choice No 12 Jordie Barrett back home in New Zealand with ankle and knee injuries.

“It’s also really tempting to have Proctor, Lienert-Brown, Ioane and Reece,” added Holland. “We’ve got some pretty good options there to be just as excited about. Caleb is a loss, and we’ve got a couple of big decisions to be made in the next couple of days about how we get the best guys on the park to start and finish the game.”

Barrett’s return would be welcomed against the always physical England pack, even if the New Zealand second row performed admirably in his absence. Fabian Holland continued his rapid emergence in his rookie year with another standout effort at both set piece, as the go-to lineout option, and around the field and Josh Lord was not far behind him, making 18 tackles without a miss.

New Zealand loose forward Wallace Sititi looks to unload in the test against Scotland at Murrayfield.

On the positive side of the ledger, Holland confirmed there were no other major injuries out of a physical clash against the Scots who pushed the All Blacks to the limit at Murrayfield, before falling short once again of an historic first ever test victory.

“The boys are a bit beaten up with bangs and knocks, so we’ll have a good recovery day tomorrow, a good learning day around how we get better, but there’s nobody else who will be in doubt for the weekend,” added the assistant coach.

“How we approach the next couple of days is really important to get guys back up and humming again before the back end of the week. There was some really good stuff in the game, and some spots where a good Scottish side put us under pressure. We’ll address a couple of little things where we can take some of that pressure off ourselves and put it back on to the opposition.”

Paramount among work-ons, added Holland, would be discipline, with three yellow cards against the Scots an obvious issue, and the skill errors that allowed the hosts to roar back into the contest, from 17-0 down at the break, with 17 unanswered third-quarter points.

“We saw a lot of good stuff in that first half, but in the second half we were under a bit of pressure,” added Holland. “There were a couple of things around individual errors. We didn’t catch the ball at the kickoff after halftime, gave it straight to Scotland and they were ready to have a good crack at us. We found it hard to turn it around.

“Little skillset errors gave Scotland the ball and then a couple of individual errors from trying too hard got us the yellow cards, and it was a rolling effect. We’ve got to be smarter in those moments when you’re fatigued and under pressure.”

The New Zealanders are halfway to what would be their fifth Grand Slam of the four Home Unions after victories over Ireland in Chicago (26-13) and Scotland at the weekend. With only the out-of-sorts Welsh to come after Twickenham, this weekend’s contest against an England side riding a nine-test win streak is considered the pivotal matchup of the tour.