{"id":588367,"date":"2026-09-02T23:04:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T23:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588367\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T23:04:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T23:04:14","slug":"all-blacks-news-kieran-read-urges-ballsy-changes-from-dave-rennie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/588367\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks news: Kieran Read urges ‘ballsy’ changes from Dave Rennie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kieran Read has urged Dave Rennie to go with a 6-2 split for the All Blacks\u2019 third Test against the Springboks<\/a> after the hosts levelled the series at 1-1.<\/p>\n

South Africa claimed a 33-26 victory over New Zealand in Cape Town on Saturday, a week after a 33-16 triumph had moved the tourists into a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

While Dave Rennie\u2019s<\/a> men were once again competitive, Read wants to see the All Blacks<\/a> follow the Boks\u2019<\/a> example with their own \u2018Bomb Squad\u2019.<\/p>\n

Read\u2019s second-row tweak<\/p>\n

He is not advocating for mass alterations but the ex-skipper believes that the odd tweak could help them regain their advantage in Rugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry, starting with the inclusion of lock Sam Darry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hesitant to change too much in the 23 because this Test becomes it \u2013 you win it, you can\u2019t lose the series,\u201d he told the GBRANZ podcast. \u201cThere\u2019s maybe a couple of guys outside the 23 who could easily come into the squad and be great.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether they make those changes, I\u2019m not sure. Sam Darry, yes, I would have him at least on the bench because he wins kick-offs, he hasn\u2019t missed a kick-off on tour, I haven\u2019t seen him miss a kick-off all year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf South Africa put height on, it\u2019s at altitude, they kick into that right corner, Sam Darry will get up and win that, so we can set that ball and exit well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The All Blacks\u2019 exit strategy is certainly something Read has pinpointed looking ahead to the third Test.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhereas Jordie [Barrett] kicked it out, Tupou [Vaa\u2019i] missed maybe one or two there, so he (Darry) would be in the conversation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFabian Holland\u2019s an outstanding player so I don\u2019t know if you can take him out of your 23. They could start [together] and Tupou could go to six.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe front-row\u2019s interchangeable. You\u2019re probably not going outside of those six guys because they\u2019re playing 40 minutes each, so it\u2019s not too big of a load on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the loose forwards, Ardie played 80 minutes and he\u2019s going to keep playing. Simon Parker was great but I\u2019m a big fan of [Peter] Lakai. Whether giving him more time would allow some of his great attributes to shine, I\u2019m not sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cLakai\u2019s a potential to start, Ethan Blackadder\u2019s a guy who you could bring into that 23 and start him, he could do what Simon Parker did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kieran Read: \u2018People would say Rassie Erasmus has always lost his head\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Why All Blacks should go 6-2<\/p>\n

Rennie hasn\u2019t felt the need to go to a 6-2 bench but, with wing Josh Moorby not coming on last weekend, there could be scope to change. Even if the All Blacks suffer injuries, Read believes that there is enough cover should the risk of a forward-heavy bench be exposed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you do have to [go 6-2] because [Cam] Roigard\u2019s not coming off basically, you can bank on that. [Kyle] Preston\u2019s probably quick enough if you need him [on the wing], or if you\u2019ve got Leroy Carter in the team to go to half-back,\u201d he added.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not taking off the midfielders really, so it comes down to injuries. It\u2019s a ballsy call 6-2, so if you get an injury in the backs, you are under the pump. I do like the look of a 6-2 for us right now to match the South African team that is really all about the forward power and physicality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing is if you\u2019re back at altitude, it\u2019s tough. If you\u2019ve got your backs running all day and it\u2019s a game that opens up, that is what you want which we probably haven\u2019t seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been talk around the tempo and talk around how we want to speed the game up, we just haven\u2019t been able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: All Blacks hero gives Greatest Rivalry verdict on \u2018confident character\u2019 Ruben Love and explains how \u2018no secret\u2019 Dave Rennie era is \u2018hugely different\u2019 from Scott Robertson<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kieran Read has urged Dave Rennie to go with a 6-2 split for the All Blacks\u2019 third Test…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588368,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-588367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588367","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=588367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}