Clarke, though, with his experience \u2013 and as the All Blacks\u2019 best back three aerial exponent \u2013 is likely to have the inside running to recapture the No 11 jersey. <\/p>\n
Josh Moorby was impressive off the bench in his All Blacks debut. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
While he is highly unlikely to be thrust straight into this week\u2019s squad, Ioane rejoining the All Blacks is timely after he returned from a six-month stint with Irish powerhouses Leinster \u2013 the province who have long provided the backbone to their national team.<\/p>\n
Last year, Jordie Barrett excelled in his trailblazing sabbatical at Leinster, too.<\/p>\n
As they devise plans to combat Andy Farrell\u2019s Ireland in the biggest test of Rennie\u2019s budding tenure<\/a>, why would the All Blacks not tap into Ioane and Barrett\u2019s inside oil on combinations and tendencies?<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a leaders meeting last night and did get him [Barrett] to confirm some of our thoughts,\u201d Rennie said.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of our guys have played the Irish a lot. They know a lot about them. The boys watch a lot more Northern Hemisphere footy than they might\u2019ve half a dozen years ago. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Irish have commanded a lot of respect through what they\u2019ve achieved. We know what\u2019s coming, and we\u2019ll have to be very good in a lot of areas.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a quality side. They\u2019ve got a lot of strong connections, a lot of guys who play an enormous amount of footy together over the last few years and they\u2019re very well coached so they\u2019ll be well prepared. <\/p>\n \u201cTheir forwards have got a good short passing game. They\u2019ll ask lots of questions of us there, and at set piece.\u201d<\/p>\n Rennie delivered a positive prognosis for loose forward Luke Jacobson \u2013 after he did not return for the second half against Italy due to calf issues \u2013 and experienced Blues lock Patrick Tuipulotu, who is yet to feature in this year\u2019s first two tests. <\/p>\n Jacobson, as one of the All Blacks\u2019 best performers against France and Italy, is likely to retain the openside flanker duties, while Tuipulotu could add significant impact to the bench brigade.<\/p>\n Much has changed since Ireland\u2019s last venture here four years ago when they captured their first series success on New Zealand soil. <\/p>\n Ian Foster and Scott Robertson have come and gone as All Blacks head coaches to hand the mantle to Rennie. <\/p>\n Jonathan Sexton continues to leave an irreplaceable hole as Ireland\u2019s backline director. Chief protagonist Peter O\u2019Mahony has retired, and James Lowe\u2019s departure to Japan rules him ineligible for test selection. <\/p>\n The All Blacks have seemingly turned the tide on their great modern rivalry with Ireland in that time, too, by claiming the last three victories. <\/p>\n Yet those involved in that horror 2022 home series won\u2019t need reminding of the need to preserve Eden Park\u2019s 32-year unbeaten status this weekend. <\/p>\n \u201cNo doubt that will come up,\u201d Rennie said of Ireland\u2019s last New Zealand tour. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a healthy amount of respect for the Irish. They\u2019ll come in genuinely believing they can beat us. There\u2019s no doubt this game will be massive for them.<\/p>\n \u201cEden Park has been a fortress but what\u2019s happened in the past counts for little.\u201d <\/p>\n The ball retention, attack-first mentality Rennie has instigated since assuming charge could be refined somewhat this week, as the All Blacks attempt to strike a better balance after battling to break down the resolute Italian defence, before adjustments were made in the second half. <\/p>\n The All Blacks kicked four times in last week\u2019s first half and made their most passes (312) in the past 15 years against Italy. <\/p>\n More variety will be needed to manipulate Ireland\u2019s defensive system. <\/p>\n \u201cWe probably overplayed in that first bracket and ended up turning it over and got punished,\u201d Rennie noted. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were opportunities to kick and apply pressure. We\u2019ve discussed that, but if it\u2019s on we\u2019re going to play. <\/p>\n \u201cIdeally we\u2019re kicking on the front foot and maybe in the wide channels where we can find grass and then get a set piece down there or get a counter-attack opportunity. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s got to be balance. Ireland are a very good defensive side. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to kick a lot of ball and try to apply pressure through that. We\u2019ll get excited about it and work hard for opportunities but we\u2019re going to have to balance our game out.\u201d<\/p>\n Liam Napier<\/a> is a senior sports journalist and rugby correspondent for the NZ Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clarke, though, with his experience \u2013 and as the All Blacks\u2019 best back three aerial exponent \u2013 is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,806,1863,8136,16123,9635,10806,119486,8142,259154,5838,2944,6163,9557,17884,8019,18792,6371,130,111,139,69,14727,8143,13084,138234,17883,213,1557,643,151772,8229,61,32951],"class_list":["post-523330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-as","tag-back","tag-blacks","tag-cover","tag-dave","tag-defend","tag-depleted","tag-eden","tag-fortress","tag-help","tag-inside","tag-intel","tag-intelligence","tag-ioane","tag-ireland","tag-irish","tag-joins","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-outside","tag-park","tag-prepare","tag-rennie","tag-rieko","tag-sports","tag-squad","tag-stocks","tag-summoned","tag-they","tag-to","tag-turns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523330","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=523330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Jordie Barrett spent a season with Irish club Leinster before returning to the Hurricanes for the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n
The All Blacks have won their last three tests against Ireland. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n