Former All Blacks hooker James Parsons believes there is an extra “edge” with Dave Rennie, who is not afraid to drop players if they have not performed.
The 62-year-old took over as New Zealand head coach after Scott Robertson in January and has been tasked with making them Rugby World Cup title challengers.
They started well enough under Rennie as they won four Tests in a row, which included defeating the Springboks at Ellis Park, but they have since succumbed to three successive defeats.
Mass changes from Rennie
The All Blacks boss has responded by making 11 personnel changes in total – six to the starting XV and five on the bench – for their Bledisloe Cup clash this weekend.
Fabian Holland, who also missed the Baltimore match, Ethan Blackadder and Tyrel Lomax are arguably the headline omissions for the Wallabies encounter.
And Parsons states that Rennie is taking a different approach to his predecessors when it comes to selection and holding players accountable.
“I think you’ve got to take your opportunity, he’s not afraid to wield the axe. With previous All Blacks coaches, normally it would be pretty hard to lose your spot, you would probably have to have a couple of howlers in a row,” the former front-rower said on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“You get the sense that if you’re not up to it… there’s that edge, there’s that nervousness when you’re in camp.
“There’s different sort of feeling when it comes to team naming. I think everyone sits there going, ‘am I going to be in?’ which is a great play.
“It’s not unhealthy, that is where you get the best; you get that excitement that you’re in the All Blacks but that nervous energy of, ‘am I in the team or not?’ That’s when you rise.”
After playing all four Tests in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, including starting the first three, tighthead prop Lomax has been discarded from Saturday’s clash.
It is a big move from Rennie, with the Hurricanes star a key part of the squad over the past few years, but the head coach is evidently unhappy with what he’s seen from the 30-year-old.
“You’ve got to look at it from the sense that they haven’t got what they wanted at scrum-time. Dave said he’s been given some clear messages and we all know that Dave’s massive in backing game stats,” Parsons said.
“I wasn’t expecting to not see him but my assumption would be, one, the scrum and, two, those backing game stats when he has a high threshold for his tight five and the expectations around those.”
Surprise backline call
Rennie has also made some interesting decisions behind the scrum, which includes bringing Leroy Carter back into the starting XV ahead of Josh Moorby.
Carter was dropped for the previous match after missing two key tackles but he has returned to the left wing spot.
Moorby has been moved to the bench and Parsons has a theory why he has been handed the number 23 jersey.
“It’s a 23-man game so you’ve got to think they have the intention of using him. Where it’s different this time is they probably wouldn’t want to move Jordie to full-back, they wouldn’t want to move Will to full-back,” he added.
“I know they can but I don’t think that they would want to. This time, Richie’s gone down and they probably weren’t expecting it. If Damian or Beaudy went down, it could really rattle the mix if you carried Tavatavanawai.
“If you base on where they’ve played Josh you get the sense it’s Damian, one, Beaudy, two, and then Josh has the ability to play at full-back.
“And then you’ve got your Jordie Barrett and Will Jordan, who they see as specialists at 12 and wing.”