Front row: Craig Dowd, Sean Fitzpatrick, Olo Brown. Locks: Robin Brooke, Ian Jones. Loose forwards: Sir Michael Jones, Josh Kronfeld, Zinzan Brooke. They played all 10 tests, including four against the Boks, unchanged. Four backs (Justin Marshall, Frank Bunce, Jeff Wilson and Christian Cullen) also featured in all 10 tests. They won nine, dropping only the fourth test against the Boks, the series already decided.
In comparison, Rennie’s All Blacks used 12 different starters across their four Boks tests – nine in the forwards. Lest anyone shrug and suggest the physicality then doesn’t match the physicality now, I recommend asking Fitzy about that. Those Boks had 10 members of their victorious 1995 World Cup-winning team in their 21 (six substitutes in those days).
Those assessing the comparative lack of size in the All Blacks after seeing the Springboks giants of 2026 need to be reminded there were no man mountains in the 1996 All Blacks – Ian Jones? 104kg. Robin Brooke? 109kg.
The All Blacks may not have had mountainous size, but they had technique, skill, speed plus a decent helping of mongrel and, more to the point, a highly geared, highly polished, almost subconscious understanding of their game and how they fitted together. Top rugby teams together that long can develop that kind of innate, instinctive interaction that comes to the fore when the pressure goes on.
Consistently fielding the top team from now on will also help the All Blacks tidy up the scrum, breakdowns, high kicking and receiving, and defence (phew). Rennie and co seem already to have produced a merged, focused team; now it’s time to cement and refine combinations, even without Savea, Jacobson, Tupaea, Williams, Clarke, all eminently capable of slotting right back in.
After the two Bledisloe tests next month comes the end-of-year tour (Scotland, Wales, England), traditionally when new players can be tried and assessed – a lesser priority now. Next year: another Bledisloe test plus a full Rugby Championship ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup.
If Rennie heads down this consistency path, it will be fascinating to see how he cuts his selection cloth. Plenty of All Blacks fans have been aiming rockets at some of the more experienced players – Codie Taylor, Tyrel Lomax, Anton Lienert-Brown and Beauden Barrett, for starters.
Will Tupou Vaa’i be at blindside flanker or lock? To me, Vaa’i and Fabian Holland are the two starting locks. The sight of Boks halfback Morne van den Berg easily eluding Vaa’i from a fourth-test scrum, beginning the move that ended in Pieter-Steph du Toit’s vital try, was ample illustration of the danger of playing a lock in the loose against top opposition.
In my view, Will Jordan is our best fullback but he’s done superbly since being posted back to the wing and probably shouldn’t be moved. The other eight candidates are (those with an asterisk* injured at present): Clarke*, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby, Emoni Narawa, Caleb Tangitau*, Fehi Fineanganofo (may yet head overseas), Kyren Taumoefolau (eligible for the end of year tour) and Fainga’anuku*. Sort that lot out.
Damian McKenzie has come in for stick from some and still has appeal as an impact player – but who then is fullback? Critics say he is too short and vulnerable to the high ball. I don’t buy it. McKenzie is 1.77m; Cheslin Kolbe is 1.72m – and is terrific under the high ball. Taine Tuaupiki, the Warriors sensation, is 1.78m and doesn’t have much trouble plucking high balls out of the sky while being monstered by NRL chasers. We’re surely talking technique and confidence, not height – a coaching and training job.
The All Blacks need McKenzie’s ability to find holes in defences. However, to return to our theme, if there is to be a new fullback, then select him – and field him consistently to develop that teamwork and understanding.
Paul Lewis writes about rugby, cricket, league, football, yachting, golf, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.