{"id":645179,"date":"2026-06-18T11:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645179\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T11:26:11","slug":"all-blacks-squad-dave-rennie-strays-from-norm-while-ardie-savea-question-and-will-jordan-decision-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/645179\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks squad: Dave Rennie strays from norm while Ardie Savea question and Will Jordan decision looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Dave Rennie is set to break from the norm when he names his first All Blacks squad since taking over the head coaching reins from Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n

The new All Blacks boss is set to name his first squad on Sunday following the Super Rugby Pacific final between the Hurricanes and Chiefs.<\/p>\n

New Zealand kick off their Nations Championship campaign and the 2026 international<\/a> season with a clash with France in Christchurch before hosting Italy in Wellington, with their final home game of July being against Ireland at Eden Park.<\/p>\n

Rennie\u2019s<\/a> selection is set to go against the norm with the new head coach reportedly including Super Rugby Pacific\u2019s red-hot winger Fehi Fineanganofo, despite the fact he has signed a deal with the Newcastle Red Bulls.<\/p>\n

Dave Rennie\u2019s first selection calls<\/p>\n

Historically, All Blacks<\/a> prospects who have signed to leave New Zealand have been overlooked in favour of players who are remaining in Aotearoa, such as Mark Tele\u2019a, but Rennie is straying from the norm according to a report by the New Zealand Herald.<\/p>\n

Fineanganofo has enjoyed a stunning season for the Hurricanes, crossing for a record-equalling 16 tries in 2026, matching Ben Lam\u2019s and Joe Roff\u2019s tallies in a single season. The 23-year-old signed his deal with Newcastle before the start of the season when there was far less fanfare about his All Blacks prospects.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, rumours swirled that NZ Rugby was moving to block the speedster\u2019s move to Newcastle amid interest from Rennie<\/a>. NZ Rugby chief executive Steve Lancaster dispelled those suggestions, saying that the union doesn\u2019t \u2018block\u2019 players from moving clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t really do that. These are player choices,\u201d\u00a0Lancaster said on the possibility of buying Fineanganofo out of his contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing stopping Fehi from doing that, but it\u2019s not a space we get into, looking to buy players out of contracts. Things have changed a lot for him since the end of last year. He\u2019s taken every opportunity he\u2019s been given so good on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he has a change of heart, that\u2019s absolutely up to him. The ball is in his court around that. But even if he does honour his contract to Newcastle, he\u2019s still young. He might well be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the NZ Herald report, Rennie will include \u00a0Fineanganofo in his squad for the first Test matches of the year regardless of his playing future. The ploy to select him could convince Fineanganofo to enter talks with Newcastle with the prospect of cancelling his contract with the possibility of representing New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup next year.<\/p>\n

Cory Jane admits to starting Fehi Fineanganofo \u2018drama\u2019 as NZ Rugby \u2018open to negotiate\u2019 amid delicate situation<\/a><\/p>\n

Outside back headaches with Will Jordan decision<\/p>\n

Fineanganofo looks set to claim one of the hotly contested outside back spots in the squad along with clubmate Josh Moorby, who has impressed since making his return from France. Rennie has said that he will select on form, with the report suggesting that Caleb Clarke and Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku will be selected along with the Hurricanes star.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Isaac Hutchinson has emerged as a real prospect, particularly with Will Jordan sidelined. The Crusaders back will almost certainly be included in Rennie\u2019s squad, but he is set to miss the matches against France and Italy due to injury.<\/p>\n

Fly-halves Beauden Barrett, Ruben Love and Damian McKenzie are all bound to be selected in the squad and can all play at full-back in Jordan\u2019s absence, but Hutchinson has staked a strong claim for selection. The Herald<\/a> highlights how Jordan was rushed back for the \u2018Saders only to suffer a further setback and that Rennie will be wary of a repeat.<\/p>\n

Will Jordan OUT? Ranking five All Black full-back options as Dave Rennie sweats over key man\u2019s fitness<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe unknown, at this stage, is how Rennie plans to transition Rieko Ioane, Ardie Savea and Anton Lienert-Brown back from their respective offshore stints,\u201d the report adds.<\/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

Ioane is an option in the midfield for the All Blacks but has played much of his rugby on the wing for Leinster this season, while Lienert-Brown shone for Kobe as Rennie\u2019s men clinched the Japan Rugby League One title.<\/p>\n

The other big selection calls are set to be who the third scrum-half will be behind Cam Roigard and Noah Hotham with Cortez Ratima and Kyle Preston being the frontrunners.<\/p>\n

Rassie Erasmus\u2019 Scott Robertson warning to Springboks after he eclipsed South African greats despite brutal All Blacks sacking<\/a><\/p>\n

Loose forwards<\/p>\n

It is theorised that Ardie Savea, who is the standout candidate for the All Blacks captaincy in Scott Barrett\u2019s absence, could in fact be rested for the July Tests with an eye on the Greatest Rivalry Series tour to South Africa.<\/p>\n

Outside of the Savea question, Peter Lakai will surely feature, with Wallace Sititi, Du\u2019Plessis Kirifi, Anton Segner, Luke Jacobson, Simon Parker, Christian Lio-Willie and Lucas Casey are all vying for inclusion. There is some doubt over Sititi following his concerning concussion.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0The \u2018luxury\u2019 Dave Rennie has with All Blacks that he never enjoyed at Wallabies as Joe Schmidt faces \u2018nervous wait\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dave Rennie is set to break from the norm when he names his first All Blacks squad since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":645180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[168226,187113,348,3482,620,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-645179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-dave-rennie","tag-fehi-fineanganofo","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=645179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/645179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=645179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=645179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=645179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}