{"id":595446,"date":"2026-09-09T23:10:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/595446\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T23:10:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:10:09","slug":"justin-marshall-the-changes-dave-rennie-should-make-to-aid-fitter-all-blacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/595446\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Marshall: The changes Dave Rennie should make to aid ‘fitter’ All Blacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

All Blacks legend Justin Marshall wants Dave Rennie to \u201cask different questions\u201d of the Springboks<\/a> in the final Greatest Rivalry Test.<\/p>\n

New Zealand head into the Baltimore encounter 2-1 down in the series after succumbing 29-24 to South Africa at FNB Stadium last weekend.<\/p>\n

They are the walking wounded going into the finale. Billy Proctor, Anton Segner and Caleb Clarke were among those to return home prior to the internationals, while Luke Jacobson, Ardie Savea and Quinn Tupaea picked up injuries in the third Test and are set for a spell on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

That means Rennie<\/a> will have to make alterations for the fourth encounter and Marshall<\/a> would back the inclusion of the likes of Rieko Ioane, Ethan Blackadder and Richie Mo\u2019unga.<\/p>\n

Marshall\u2019s changes<\/p>\n

\u201cBy no means is it any criticism of the guys that have been occupying the jersey at the moment. We\u2019ve been competing and we\u2019re very, very close to being the better side in the series,\u201d he told Sport Nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much to like in the way that we\u2019re playing, there\u2019s so much to like in the way that certain players are pulling the trigger in their jerseys.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou take influential players out, like Ardie Savea in particular and Quinn Tupaea, who\u2019s been the regular centre, all of a sudden you\u2019ve got to look at how we look different to them defensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve seen our attack over three Test matches; let\u2019s show them something they\u2019re not used to. Let\u2019s give Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende in the midfield something else to consider, which I think would maybe be a Rieko Ioane.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve seen Anton Lienert-Brown, who I thought did fantastically in the last Test but they know what he\u2019s going to offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe [Timoci] Tavatavanawai comes into the mix off the bench \u2013 there\u2019s something they\u2019ve not seen \u2013 a blend of loose forward (Blackadder) that is slightly different and, yes, maybe a general (Mo\u2019unga) that sees things differently, who attacks the line differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll those players would still fit into the way we\u2019ve been attacking and, to a degree, would ask some different questions of the Springboks<\/a>, as well as adding that freshness and energy I was talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks coach makes Springboks \u2018exploration\u2019 prediction: \u2018They\u2019ve certainly got the players to do it\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Rennie will also weigh up whether it is worth putting Tupou Vaa\u2019i back on the blindside after their lineout issues.<\/p>\n

While they simplified the calls in the third Test, in part to aid Asafo Aumua, who is not as proficient a thrower as Codie Taylor, the All Blacks<\/a> did not play off a dominant platform.<\/p>\n

Tempo in the final quarter<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of it revolves around what happens in the tight five because they will be wary of the scrum and the lineout. Fabian Holland came off the bench, if he goes back into the starting line-up, does he team up with Tupou Vaa\u2019i? That\u2019s the big question,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecondly, if that does happen, that means the loose forwards have significant changes with Jacobson and Savea out.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes he opt to put Vaa\u2019i on the side of the scrum and then you\u2019ve got that lineout option? They\u2019ve got a lot of options.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersonally, I would like to see Tupou Vaa\u2019i on the side of the scrum which enables us to go with that double impact loose forward mix and we don\u2019t have to carry a lock.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, that\u2019s not criticism, I think in the last quarter, if we\u2019re in the Test match, we\u2019re fitter than them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think adding tempo into the game, that\u2019s the right time to do it, rather than adding physicality. Let\u2019s keep the tempo of the game going.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to play two loosies on the bench would mean putting Tupou on the side and maybe go for that one-two punch. If we get stuck at lock, we know Tupou can move there, or he will move there when those players get injected.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE: John Smit claims All Blacks had \u2018defeatist attitude\u2019 in the set-piece as Dave Rennie \u2018chose the wrong way\u2019 in the scrum<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Blacks legend Justin Marshall wants Dave Rennie to \u201cask different questions\u201d of the Springboks in the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1463,1464,111,43,139,69,6327,213],"class_list":["post-595446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595446","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=595446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}