WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Anton Segner is set to become the first player born in Germany to play for the New Zealand All Blacks when he makes his debut off the bench against Italy in the second round of rugby's Nations Championship on Saturday.
The 24-year-old backrower from the Auckland-based Blues was selected by head coach Dave Rennie among 11 changes to the lineup that beat France 34-32 in the tournament opener. Five of those changes are in the starting lineup. Segner will make his debut along with winger Josh Moorby.
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New Zealand head coach Dave Rennie, left, and France head coach Fabien Galthié talk ahead of the Nations Championship rugby international between the All Blacks and France in Christchurch New Zealand, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Craig Butland/Photosport via AP)
New Zealand perform the haka, as the French team watches ahead of the Nations Championship rugby international between the All Blacks and France in Christchurch New Zealand, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Craig Butland/Photosport via AP)
New Zealand's Ruben Love kicks a conversion during the Nations Championship rugby international between the All Blacks and France in Christchurch New Zealand, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Craig Butland/Photosport via AP)
German born Anton Segner poses for a photo during an All Blacks community rugby training event in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, June 27, 2026. (Joshua Devenie/Photosport via AP)
Segner was born in Frankfurt and moved to New Zealand at age 15 in 2017 as an exchange student on an intended six-month stay. He attended Nelson College, the country's oldest secondary school which was involved in the first rugby match in New Zealand in 1870 and has produced 23 All Blacks.
He later led the under-20 team of the Christchurch-based Crusaders and played for the Tasman Makos in New Zealand's National Provincial Championship before joining the Blues in 2024.
Segner said he first came into contact with New Zealand rugby while playing as a 10-year-old in Frankfurt where he encountered “a whole bunch of Kiwi coaches who then inspired me to come over here to New Zealand to give it a crack.”
“I've experienced it first hand that rugby in New Zealand is like football (soccer) in Germany,” he said. “It's a rugby-crazy country and that's all I wanted. To make this (All Blacks) squad now is definitely a dream come true.”
Rennie said Segner was the best player to come out of the Blues this season, valuable for his ball-winning ability in the loose, his resilience and his contribution at lineouts.
Moorby left New Zealand in 2024 to play for the French club Montpellier after two seasons in Super Rugby with the Wellington-based Hurricanes. He returned to the Hurricanes this year, scoring 17 tries to equal the Super Rugby season try-scoring record.
Rennie has left the structure of his backline mostly unchanged, retaining the inside backs combination of Cam Roigard at scrumhalf, Ruben Love at flyhalf and Jordie Barrett at inside center. Billy Proctor comes in for Quinn Tupaea at outside center and Leroy Carter will start on the left wing in place of Caleb Clarke.
Rennie has also tinkered with his backrow combination, naming Wallace Sititi on the blindside in place of Peter Lakai while retaining Luke Jacobson on the openside and captain Ardie Savea at the back of the scrum.
“There are a number of players and combinations who we felt deserved and would benefit from a second successive run, and other players who have earned the right to get their opportunity,” Rennie said.
“This is a strong side to reflect the respect we have for this Italian team. They have shown through the Six Nations competition that they are capable of knocking over any team.”
Tupou Vaa'i will join Sam Darry in the second row and Tyrel Lomax will start at tighthead prop in place of Fletcher Newell.
Among the changes on the bench, Samisoni Taukei'aho will cover hooker, George Bower offers a new option at prop, lock Josh Lord drops to the reserves after starting last week and Segner, Moorby and Anton Lienert-Brown feature for the first time in the Nations Championship.
AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby
New Zealand head coach Dave Rennie, left, and France head coach Fabien Galthié talk ahead of the Nations Championship rugby international between the All Blacks and France in Christchurch New Zealand, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Craig Butland/Photosport via AP)
New Zealand perform the haka, as the French team watches ahead of the Nations Championship rugby international between the All Blacks and France in Christchurch New Zealand, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Craig Butland/Photosport via AP)
New Zealand's Ruben Love kicks a conversion during the Nations Championship rugby international between the All Blacks and France in Christchurch New Zealand, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (Craig Butland/Photosport via AP)
German born Anton Segner poses for a photo during an All Blacks community rugby training event in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, June 27, 2026. (Joshua Devenie/Photosport via AP)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Toronto’s Dylan Cease worked eight no-hit innings against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday before allowing a single to Heliot Ramos leading off the ninth as the Blue Jays rolled to a 10-0 victory.
Cease (6-4) was pulled after Ramos’ clean line-drive single to center and got a standing ovation from the San Francisco crowd. The All-Star right-hander threw a career-high 118 pitches, 81 for strikes. Former Giants reliever Tyler Rogers got the final three outs on four pitches.
Cease struck out 11 to increase his American League-leading total to 148.
BRAVES 3, PIRATES 0
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Joey Bart hit a two-run home run with two outs in the eighth inning, lifting the NL East-leading Atlanta to a win over his former team after Pittsburgh starter Jared Jones pitched six perfect innings before being lifted.
Bart, traded to the Braves from the Pirates on June 18, followed a double by Mike Yastrzemski with a 422-foot drive to left-centerfield off a slider from Dennis Santana (2-4). Drake Baldwin added an RBI single to center in the ninth.
Jones struck out eight on 77 pitches, including 53 strikes, to lower his ERA to 4.37 from 5.28. His bid was nearly ended by Bart with one out in the third, but a long drive to left was caught at the wall by Bryan Reynolds.
RAYS 3, YANKEES 0
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Jonathan Aranda drove in three runs, Shane McClanahan pitched 6 1/3 innings and Tampa Bay beat New York to extend their AL East lead to five games.
McClanahan (8-5) scattered four hits and struck out five without a walk on 85 pitches. He had his longest outing of the season and his second consecutive start without giving up a run. Bryan Baker struck out the side in the ninth inning for his 25th save.
The Rays have struck out the Yankees 45 times in the first three games of the series.
MARLINS 2, MARINERS 0
MIAMI (AP) — Kyle Stowers homered, major league batting leader Otto López had his 40th multi-hit game and Miami beat Seattle.
Tyler Phillips (2-3) pitched five sharp innings, allowing four hits on 71 pitches, before three relievers finished off Miami’s fifth straight victory. The Marlins are a major league-best 25-8 since June 1.
López went 2 for 4, increasing his average to .345 and becoming the first player since Houston’s Jose Altuve in 2014 with 40 multi-hit games before the All-Star break. His fifth-inning double tied Luis Arraez in 2023 for the most hits by a Marlins player before the All-Star break at 126.
Xavier Edwards added an RBI triple on a two-hit night.
TIGERS 6, ATHLETICS 1
DETROIT (AP) — Jake Rogers and Spencer Torkelson homered and Detroit won their fourth straight game, beating the Athletics.
Troy Melton (5-1) allowed one unearned run on four hits and a walk in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out nine as the Tigers won for the seventh time in eight games.
Jeffrey Springs (3-9) took the loss for the Athletics, who have lost five straight and nine of 10. He gave up six runs in 4 1/3 innings to fall to 0-9 in his last 15 starts.
NATIONALS 8, ASTROS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — CJ Abrams and Luis García Jr. both hit their 20th homers of the season, and Washington pounded Houston.
Foster Griffin (10-2) allowed one run in seven innings for Washington, which took two of three from Houston to move two games over .500. Griffin’s 10 victories are the most for a Nationals rookie since the club moved from Montreal before the 2005 season.
Brice Matthews had Houston’s lone RBI on a fifth-inning single.
CUBS 9, ORIOLES 7
BALTIMORE (AP) — Pete Crow-Armstrong hit two of Chicago’s five home runs and the Cubs outslugged Baltimore.
Michael Conforto and Carson Kelly also went deep on the first two pitches of the fifth inning for Chicago, tying the game immediately after Pete Alonso’s two-run shot had given Baltimore a 3-1 lead.
Chicago then scored five runs in the seventh, including a three-run shot by Seiya Suzuki.
Tyler O’Neill homered twice for Baltimore and Coby Mayo also went deep.
METS 6, ROYALS 2
NEW YORK (AP) — Jared Young was plunked with the bases loaded in the eighth inning, sparking a five-run rally that lifted New York to a win over Kansas City.
Young took a 90 mph slider off his right elbow by Alex Lange (0-4), who allowed five straight baserunners with two outs. Brett Baty chased Lange with a two-run single and Young scored on a wild pitch by Jose Cuas, who then allowed an RBI single to Francisco Alvarez.
Brooks Raley (3-3) worked around Lane Thomas’ double in the eighth.
Rookie A.J. Ewing hit his first career leadoff homer, a 420-foot blast off opener Steven Cruz. Ewing is the fifth Mets player to hit a leadoff homer this season.
Salvador Perez and Carter Jensen had RBI singles for the Royals.
CARDINALS 5, BREWERS 1
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alec Burleson and José Fermín homered, Michael McGreevy worked 6 1/3 strong innings and St. Louis snapped a seven-game losing streak against Milwaukee.
McGreevy (4-7) struck out six and allowed five hits and one run on his 26th birthday. The 26-year-old right-hander in his third big league campaign made his career-high 18th start of the season.
After the Cardinals’ Masyn Winn hit a leadoff double in the first, Jordan Walker followed with an RBI double and Burleson drove in Walker with the third double of the inning.
Walker was 2 for 4 with two runs scored.
Fermín hit a 404-foot solo homer to left-center in the fourth, extending the lead to 3-0. Burleson homered on a cutter from Jared Koenig that traveled an estimated 443 feet to right in the sixth.
Kyle Harrison (8-2) allowed four hits and three runs in four innings, striking out two in the loss. Garrett Mitchell led the Brewers with a single and a double.
REDS 11, PHILLIES 5
CINCINNATI (AP) — Sal Stewart hit two homers — including one when Cincinnati went deep four times in the fourth inning — Noelvi Marte drove in four runs and the Reds defeated Philadelphia.
Chase Burns (11-1) picked up his 10th straight winning decision for the Reds, who are 3-7 in their last 10 games.
Kyle Schwarber hit his major league-leading 32nd homer for the Phillies. J.T. Realmuto also went deep.
RED SOX 5, WHITE SOX 0
CHICAGO (AP) — Jake Bennett allowed four hits in seven innings, Tsung-Che Cheng had his first multi-RBI game and Boston beat the Chicago for their fifth straight victory.
Boston has won 10 of 12 and and 13 of its last 18.
Bennett (4-3) has allowed more than two runs just twice in eight starts. He struck out four and walked one.
Cheng had an RBI single in the third to give the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, and Ceddanne Rafaela drove in Cheng two batters later.
Anthony Seigler came across on a wild pitch from Davis Martin (9-4), but Seigler left the game after a collision with catcher Kyle Teel at the plate.
ANGELS 13, RANGERS 1
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Mike Trout hit a two-run homer in his return rom the injured list, Jo Adell had two home runs and drove in a career-high five runs and the Los Angeles beat Texas.
Trout, who missed 17 games due to a strained right hamstring, hit a 438-foot shot that gave the Angels an 11-0 lead in the eighth. Trout has 48 career homers against the Rangers, the most by any player since the franchise moved to Texas in 1972 and the second-most ever against the club. Reggie Jackson hit 54 home runs against the Washington Senators/Texas Rangers.
Adell hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning and a three-run homer in the fifth that made it 7-0.
Vaughn Grissom went 4 for 5 with a double and four RBIs, and Zach Neto was 3 for 4 with two doubles and three runs. Denzer Guzman and Jose Siri each had two hits.
Angels starter Walbert Ureña threw 90 pitches and walked five in four scoreless innings before he was replaced by Samy Natera Jr. (1-0) to begin the fifth. Natera, a rookie left-hander, had five strikeouts in two perfect innings for his first career win.
TWINS 6, GUARDIANS 5
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Alan Roden hit a game-winning RBI single in the ninth inning as Minnesota beat Cleveland for their fourth straight win over the Guardians.
The Twins have won four in a row and five of six overall.
Roden singled twice and drove in two runs. Kody Clemens went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and Brooks Lee singled twice and drove in a pair of runs.
Yoendrys Gómez (1-0) pitched a scoreless ninth for his first win this season.
Brayan Rocchio and Rhys Hoskins homered for the Guardians.
Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dylan Cease, middle, reacts with shortstop Andrés Giménez, left, and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after San Francisco Giants' Heliot Ramos hit a single during the ninth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, July 8, 2026, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
