{"id":533471,"date":"2026-07-19T10:00:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/533471\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T10:00:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T10:00:13","slug":"can-be-a-lot-better-rennie-wants-more-after-all-blacks-shut-out-irish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/533471\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Can be a lot better’: Rennie wants more after All Blacks shut out Irish"},"content":{"rendered":"

After watching the All Blacks dominate France for their most complete victory of the Nations Championship series, head coach Dave Rennie believes his side still have significant improvement in them. <\/p>\n

Rennie\u2019s men scored six tries to three in the 40-21 bonus point victory at Eden Park<\/a> in what was a step up in intensity and accuracy from their wins over France and Italy this month. <\/p>\n

Ireland, the world\u2019s No.3 side, have been big rivals over the past four years or so but the All Blacks made them look ordinary at times, especially in a first half during which the men in green were often chasing shadows on their way to a 28-7 halftime deficit.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks\u2019 set piece<\/a> fronted impressively, with Rennie\u2019s changes \u2013 the return of Patrick Tuipulotu to lock, Tupou Vaa\u2019i\u2019s switch to blindside flanker, and left wing Josh Moorby starting his first Test \u2013 all paying handsome dividends.<\/p>\n

However, the head coach believes there is more to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot more in us,\u201d Rennie said. \u201cI reckon we can be a lot better. But what we\u2019ve been able to put out on the park in three weeks is pleasing and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired and enabled by the work of their big men, Ruben Love pulled the strings expertly at No.10, the midfield of Jordie Barrett and Quinn Tupaea was creative with the ball and destructive without it and the back three of Moorby, Damian McKenzie and Will Jordan constantly alert to opportunities.<\/p>\n

Attention will inevitably move on to the All Blacks\u2019 epic seven-week tour of South Africa and the four upcoming Tests against the world champions, but for Rennie and company there is no underestimating the significance of this performance.<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

Patrick Tuipulotu scores the All Blacks’ first try against Ireland. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re such a good side, Ireland,” Rennie said. “We asked a lot of questions of them. They defended really well for big parts. If you give them access into your end of the field they can hurt you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the balance of our game was really good tonight. We looked after the ball really well. Our big men carried and went a little more direct. Smarter kicking created opportunities for us and overall we defended really well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice way to wrap up three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for South Africa, who thrashed Wales 43-0 in Durban overnight, Rennie described them as a \u201cdifferent beast\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey put a B side out last week that beat an excellent Scotland team. I\u2019m really excited. We\u2019ve worked really hard and put a lot of detail into our game. The boys have really embraced it. I think we\u2019ve got a really good balance of working hard but enjoying it and having fun. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe exciting thing is we\u2019ll come out of Africa and regardless of results, [we\u2019ll be] in a much better place. We\u2019ll know more about the boys and our game model\u2026 we\u2019ll be able to really hone in on our culture. We\u2019ve got a captured audience for seven weeks and we\u2019ll make the most of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The All Blacks will named an extended tour squad of 44 players in one week.<\/p>\n

Hooker Codie Taylor, who left the field with a calf strain after 31 minutes last night, will likely miss the first two matches against the Stormers on August 8 and Sharks four days later.<\/p>\n

\"Ardie<\/p>\n

Ardie Savea carries the ball in traffic at Eden Park. (Source: Getty)<\/p>\n

The status of No.10 Love, who played on for several minutes after hurting a knee in the second half but was forced from the field, is unknown but not thought to be serious. <\/p>\n

A day after the victory, attack coach Mike Blair agreed the All Blacks had improvements to make, especially around their finishing.<\/p>\n

There was a sense at the ground that the All Blacks had Ireland badly listing and that a few more surgical strikes would sink them completely but it wouldn\u2019t quite come; a reflection on the home side’s errors but testament, too, to the visitors\u2019 determination.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely a stepping stone,\u201d Blair said when asked how the match would set up the All Blacks for their tour. \u201cWe\u2019re also impressed with how good South Africa have been in their recent Test matches. They\u2019ve mixed and matched their teams without seemingly skipping a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blair, a former Scotland international halfback who toured South Africa with the British and Irish Lions in 2009, knows a thing or two about the resilience required on such an odyssey.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of Dave\u2019s super strengths is pulling people together and we\u2019ll definitely need that in South Africa,\u201d Blair said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have 80-ish management and players and it\u2019s literally us against the rest of South Africa. We\u2019ll have to be tight. There will be some testing times \u2013 it\u2019s a tough schedule but we also believe it\u2019s a schedule that will accelerate our learning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After watching the All Blacks dominate France for their most complete victory of the Nations Championship series, head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[789,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-533471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-all-blacks","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533471","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=533471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}