{"id":557621,"date":"2026-08-03T12:56:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/557621\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T12:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T12:56:10","slug":"ex-all-blacks-no-brainer-selection-verdict-for-springboks-tests-he-is-rennies-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/557621\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-All Black’s ‘no-brainer’ selection verdict for Springboks Tests: ‘He is Rennie’s guy’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dave Rennie has a \u2018no-brainer\u2019 selection for the Springboks<\/a> with Codie Taylor backed for the starting number two jersey in Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry series.<\/p>\n

The veteran front-rower has been named as the stand-in tour captain in the absence of Ardie Savea, who arrives 10 days before the first Test match, but questions have been raised around whether he should still be the All Blacks\u2019 first-choice hooker.<\/p>\n

Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho and Asafo Aumua arguably had better Super Rugby Pacific seasons than the 109-Test-cap Crusaders man, but it was Taylor who head coach Rennie trusted to start all three of the Nations Championship matches.<\/p>\n

While he is facing stiff competition for the starting role, former Blues and All Blacks<\/a> hooker James Parsons believes that it\u2019s \u2018clear\u2019 that Taylor remains the man for the number two jumper against the Springboks<\/a>. He weighed in on the debate during the latest episode of Sky Sport NZ\u2019s Breakdown show, where he was joined by Jeff Wilson and Mils Muliaina.<\/p>\n

Codie Taylor\u2019s place in the All Blacks\u2019 pecking order<\/p>\n

Muliaina was first to address the topic when asked if Taylor<\/a> is the first-choice by default, considering that he was handed the captaincy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, he is. He has been pretty solid in those last three performances that he has had. He\u2019s a big leader, which Rennie has seen,\u201d the former full-back replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, we\u2019ve got different types of players. You look at Aumua and the season he has had, and then Taukei\u2019aho is hanging around as well. I like that mix for Codie and the other guys as well. It\u2019s competition, and it\u2019s great competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks coach reveals what he expects from URC opponents on Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry tour<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll bring the best out of Codie, and he\u2019ll rise to that,\u201d Parsons replied, adding that the bench role may even suit Aumua better.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I actually really like the role of what I saw from Asafo off the bench. I think that plays into his game. Even though he got that 50 minutes, he was still able to explode into that Irish Test. Where I think it gets challenging is if there are niggles, it\u2019s Samisoni Taukei\u2019aho \u2013 and he has had one of his strongest seasons. It\u2019s one of the harder selections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

He is Dave Rennie\u2019s guy<\/p>\n

The former hooker was then asked by Wilson whether Taylor is \u2018the guy for the first Test?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that\u2019s clear,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is Rennie\u2019s guy, and in that pressure-cooker environment at Ellis Park, he has played over 100 Tests; it\u2019s just a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson added: \u201cLook, I\u2019m asking you because I\u2019m with that 100%. He was there in 2022 when they had to step up, and one of the biggest challenges that organisation had in terms of how much pressure Ian Foster was under and that group had to galvanise, and they delivered in Joburg. For me, I want Codie Taylor to start in that hooker jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0All Blacks legend: We\u2019ve tried to beat the Springboks at their superpowers, Dave Rennie has changed that<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Rennie has a \u2018no-brainer\u2019 selection for the Springboks with Codie Taylor backed for the starting number two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[10904,1463,1464,111,43,139,69,1466,213],"class_list":["post-557621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-codie-taylor","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-south-africa","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557621","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=557621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}