How much of Rennie\u2019s rugby vision<\/a> is fit for purpose? Can the leadership group<\/a> hold everything together in the white-hot heat of a test series?<\/p>\n And who in the squad is up to it or not? Who has the potential to grow their game over the next 15 months and who has maybe hit the wall \u2013 taken things as far as they can?<\/p>\n Answers will be forthcoming because there is simply nowhere for anyone to hide in South Africa, and what can be said on the evidence to date is that the All Blacks have a readiness that it\u2019s hard to imagine they would have, had they not made sweeping coaching changes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The counterfactual of the All Blacks having persevered with former coach Scott Robertson<\/a> is terrifying.<\/p>\n The wheels, that were barely on at the end of last year<\/a>, would have come flying off by now and the carnage of seeing an All Blacks team prepared on three motivational video clips that served as the culture would have been catastrophic.<\/p>\n The word from those who were with the team last year is that the players were lost: disillusioned, a little disunited even. <\/p>\n There was no culture of ownership in the leadership group, no deep understanding of how they were trying to play, what their purpose was and for whom they were playing.<\/p>\n It was a team that didn\u2019t have any accountability or a clear understanding of lines of responsibility.<\/p>\n All of which meant there was fragility everywhere: little cracks that good teams could easily expose as South Africa did in Wellington<\/a> and England at Twickenham<\/a>.<\/p>\n The arrival of Rennie hasn\u2019t necessarily fixed everything, but the process of rebuilding has begun, and the All Blacks are, if nothing else, in significantly better shape to face the Boks<\/a> than they would have been had the previous regime been allowed to carry on.<\/p>\n Ardie Savea, as the new captain<\/a>, has taken ownership of the team and demanded his peers take responsibility for their performances, preparation and 24\/7 conduct in a way that wasn\u2019t happening before.<\/p>\n Selection has become consistent and aligned to a clearly defined strategy and that\u2019s because it\u2019s being done by three men with an average age of 69 \u2013 three men in Rennie, Neil Barnes and Graham Henry<\/a> who have the sort of collective rugby experience that would be hard to fit in the Library of Congress.<\/p>\n The return of Henry as an independent selector has been invaluable<\/a>, for he remains in possession of one of the sharpest minds in the business and has been with the team in South Africa imparting genuine insight to the coaching staff and players \u2013 the sort of which only someone who has won the World Cup and revolutionised the internal dynamics of the All Blacks could.<\/p>\n How this is translating on to the field is apparent, too. The All Blacks scrum looks better, especially now that premier tight-head Tyrel Lomax managed 60 highly influential minutes in Pretoria and got his scrummaging eye in as it were.<\/p>\nDave Rennie has brought clarity to his role as All Blacks coach. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
From left: Jordie Barrett, Scott Robertson, Dave Rennie, Graham Henry and Ruben Love. Photos \/ Photosport<\/p>\n