{"id":423269,"date":"2026-05-12T03:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/423269\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T03:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T03:48:11","slug":"rennie-on-whether-theres-time-to-ready-the-all-blacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/423269\/","title":{"rendered":"Rennie on whether there’s time to ready the All Blacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie will continue juggling two jobs for a few more weeks at least after his Kobe Steelers team finished as top qualifiers of Japan\u2019s League One competition. But his planning for the Test season that starts in July has been meticulous and includes input from Kiwi NBA star Steven Adams.<\/p>\n

Rennie is in New Zealand during Kobe\u2019s bye week, earned through finishing as the league’s top seed before they go straight to a semifinal. To say he has been busy since replacing Scott Robertson<\/a> in March would be an understatement.<\/p>\n

He has hosted his management group for meetings in Japan and made the most of the time difference (New Zealand is three hours ahead) to plan and communicate here so he can hit the ground running before the first Nations Championship Test against France in Christchurch on July 4.<\/p>\n

Rennie will have 10 days with his squad of 34 before the France Test. Is that enough time? <\/p>\n

“It has to be,” he said in an address to the media in Auckland this morning.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks’ other Nations Championship fixtures are against Italy in Wellington and Ireland in Auckland. Rennie will then turn his attention to the formidable tour of South Africa in August and September.<\/p>\n

One significant recent decision was to appoint former All Blacks head coach Sir Graham Henry as a selector<\/a>. Rennie said he spoke with Sir Graham before applying for the top job and was struck by one conversation in particular. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe talked about the impact that [World Cup-winning All Blacks head coach] Sir Brian Lochore had on him as a selector and that got me thinking,\u201d Rennie said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s pretty passionate and loves the jersey. He watches a lot of rugby and has strong opinions on players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI messaged him and said \u2018we\u2019ll catch up tomorrow for a chat\u2019. When I rang I said ,\u2018what are you seeing\u2019 and he said, \u2018I thought you might ask that\u2019 and had a list of 60 players he wanted to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former All Blacks lock Brodie Retallick, right, plays alongside Ardie Savea at Kobe Steelers. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

Sir Graham, now 79, will be around the team for the three Tests in July and had already planned on leading an official tour group to South Africa. He will now leave a little earlier.<\/p>\n

The Adams connection is more left-field but came via a talk on leadership that was arranged by returning mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The two-hour online meeting connected Adams, the defensive linchpin at the Houston Rockets, and former All Blacks Richie McCaw, Dan Carter and Keven Mealamu with the current All Blacks leadership group and assistant coach Tana Umaga.<\/p>\n

It was, Rennie said, \u201cgold\u201d in terms of the value of the messaging. It’s clear he has high expectations of his leaders and will be demanding of all his players’ effort levels on the pitch.<\/p>\n

Retallick ‘best lock in the world’<\/p>\n

Rennie this morning also covered topics as diverse as Brodie Retallick\u2019s form at Kobe \u2013 the \u201cbest lock in the world\u201d, he said \u2013 plus Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku\u2019s performances as a No.7 at the Crusaders<\/a> and the returning Richie Mo\u2019unga\u2019s<\/a> ineligibility to be named in the 44-man squad for South Africa.<\/p>\n

Of the latter, Rennie \u2013 whose current options for No.10 are Beauden Barrett, Damian McKenzie and Ruben Love \u2013 said: \u201cMy thinking would have been, we wouldn\u2019t have used him in July. We\u2019ve got good depth there here with the guys who are currently playing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe thinking would have been that Richie would have been in the group getting his head around how we\u2019re going to play the game and the detail around that. [And] include him in the squad to Africa and probably play him against the Stormers in the first game and let him earn the right to fight for a Test spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still hoping to get him in to get his head around things. Maybe if there are injuries, there\u2019s an option to bring him in [to South Africa]. He\u2019s got his head around it \u2013 he\u2019s prepared to play NPC. We\u2019ve accepted the situation and understand New Zealand Rugby\u2019s mindset around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he had a first-five pecking order in his mind, Rennie replied: \u201cAh, yes.\u201d Asked if he wanted to expand on that, he said: \u201cAh, no.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

Scott Barrett’s return to rugby at the Crusaders has been delayed by a back injury. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI think we\u2019re blessed in that position. I\u2019m really excited to watch over the next few weeks as the intensity grows to see how certain guys are performing.\u201d <\/p>\n

The 62-year-old Rennie, who led the Chiefs to Super Rugby titles in 2012 and 2013 before leaving to coach the Wallabies, created a stir in his first interview <\/a>as All Blacks head coach when he raised the possibility of Retallick returning to the national side.<\/p>\n

This morning, Rennie said Retallick attending next year\u2019s World Cup was potentially more realistic but the now 34-year-old, who played more than 100 Tests, deserved to be in the frame should he want to return. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest travel Brodie does nowadays is the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to Tokyo. We\u2019re away one night. He wasn\u2019t excited about six weeks in Africa. I think even Razor had that conversation with him 12 months ago. We\u2019ve got 150-odd days in hotels this year so that wouldn\u2019t excite the big man. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been the best player in Japan. He\u2019s been phenomenal. He\u2019s just won an award for being the top try scorer but it\u2019s all the other stuff that Brodie does over there which is outrageous\u2026 I\u2019d say he\u2019d be the best lock in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Really impressed’ with Fainga’anuku <\/p>\n

Of Fainga\u2019anuku, a sensation when switching between the midfield and side of the scrum for the Crusaders over the last three weeks, Rennie said: \u201cHe\u2019s gone well. I\u2019ve been really impressed from a work ethic point of view. He\u2019s carrying a lot, he\u2019s stealing a lot of ball. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know there\u2019s a lot to refine there in his play as a 7 but his ability to play on the edge as a winger or as a 7 gives you genuine versatility in your squad. You can pick a 6-2 [bench] split with someone who can genuinely play at Test level out wide. It\u2019s been a point of discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news on current All Blacks captain Scott Barrett \u2013 on a non-playing sabbatical at the Crusaders but who has had to put off his return due to a recent injury \u2013 is not so positive.<\/p>\n

The defending champions, currently fourth on the ladder, have not released details of Barrett\u2019s issue, but the man himself posted a cryptic social media post recently which hinted at a back injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s had issues with the body over the last couple of years, so the time out has been good,\u201d Rennie said. \u201cUnfortunately, he\u2019s picked up a little bit of an injury which is going to delay his return. <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully the Crusaders go well and make the playoffs and he gets back in time to wear the Crusaders jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rennie, who also coaches Ardie Savea at Kobe, said his captain would be announced alongside his first squad of the year.<\/p>\n

Rennie has more meetings planned today, along with visits with Kiwi Super Rugby franchises. He will attend the Chiefs v Highlanders match on Friday night before flying back to Japan on Saturday. <\/p>\n

“It’s good \u2013 I’ve been busy,” Rennie said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie will continue juggling two jobs for a few more weeks at least…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,17909,56380,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-423269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-chiefs","tag-crusaders","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}