Rugby: Pryor to make Maori All Blacks debut in Chicago

Kara Pryor will debut for the Māori All Blacks against the USA Eagles. Photo/Tania Whyte

Northland flanker Kara Pryor has been named to debut at openside flanker for the Māori All Blacks when they take on the USA Eagles tomorrow afternoon (NZ time).

Pryor was in impressive form all season long for both the Blues and Northland, which warranted his selection.

With a number of All Blacks being made available this week, head coach Colin Cooper has named four All Blacks in his run-on side for Friday night. All four All Blacks - Elliot Dixon, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Rieko Ioane, and Damian McKenzie - played for the Māori All Blacks last year.

These guys are all familiar with our environment so we know that they are able to move between the All Blacks and our squad with great ease. The Māori All Blacks is another home for those guys.

"This is the most experienced squad we've had for a while, and many of the players who played for us last year have stepped up a level from there," he said.

"It means that we have a really experienced playing 23, with only three new caps, starting with Kara Pryor who had a very good season with the Blues and then carried that into the Mitre 10 Cup."

"He was close to being named in the squad last year but was injured so it's good to be able to give him a start."

The preparation time in Chicago has been good and they were clear about their game plan.

"The main focus will be on playing our game and making sure we give the USA due respect," Cooper said.

"We've had a look at them and they have a big raw game, a big pack and we will need to play with some structure. We will want to have a good focus on attack and defend with a lot of go forward."

Māori All Blacks: Damien McKenzie, Rieko Ioane, Matt Proctor, Tim Bateman, James Lowe, Ihaia West, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Akira Ioane, Kara Pryor, Elliot Dixon, Tom Franklin, Jacob Skeen, Ben May, Ash Dixon (c), Kane Hames; Reserves: Joe Royal, Chris Eves, Marcel Renata, Leighton Price, Shane Christie, Brad Weber, Marty McKenzie, Sean Wainui.