The All Blacks have improved as the year has gone on, according to head coach Dave Rennie, but he has revealed the areas of their game they are still “working on”.
Rennie’s main remit when he took over from Scott Robertson at the start of the international season was to get the team back on track for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, and he has repeatedly expressed the need for improvements.
The head coach said that it would take time for these to occur but that it would happen as the year progressed. This was after he and his coaching team had just 10 days with the squad before the first Nations Championship match against France in July.
All Blacks’ improvements
Speaking after naming his squad for the end-of-year internationals in the United Kingdom, Rennie said that he was pleased with some of the improvements the team has made, particularly in defence. The attack has dominated the headlines with Mike Blair earning plenty of praise, but Rennie pointed to the work done by Tana Umaga on defence too.
“I mean, we got 10 days of prep going into France, so while we did a lot of things around organisation and structure prior to the boys coming in, it’s a lot to take in, and so we’ve tried to grow our game,” he said.
“I think defensively we’ve made good shifts in the last few weeks. You can see from an attack point of view, the boys got a really good understanding of the game we are trying to play. So I just think we are sharper; we have got better knowledge, skill sets, and conditioning has improved for us to play that sort of game. A lot of it’s around the quality of the decision-making, and that’s often layered in through our training.
“Mike Blair has done an amazing job around micro-skilling a lot of the stuff that we want to do, and you’re seeing evidence of that. We are growing as we said we would, and obviously time has been good for us.
“We learned a hell of a lot in South Africa and have got four tough Tests to keep building on that.”
As mentioned above, the All Blacks attack has been in the spotlight this year with a clear distinction to the way the team plays under Rennie compared to Robertson’s two years at the helm. While the head coach has repeatedly expressed that he wants his side to play at a high tempo and with a ton of possession, he rejects the notion that they are all-out on attack.
Work-ons
He pointed to the Bledisloe Cup victory at Eden Park as evidence that the team can play “smarter” rugby. Furthermore, he highlighted the areas of their game that they need to work on – particularly if they want to be a contender at the World Cup.
“I’m not sure if I’ve said that we’re just going to be all-out attack – there has got to be a balance,” he said.
“When you can play at a high tempo, get lightning-quick ball as we can, we’re going to play, and if it’s on to play 90 metres out, we’re going to play.
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“But you saw in Auckland, we kicked smart; you still have to be able to choke teams, and so there’s got to be a balance. Our set-piece needs to be excellent if you’ve got aspirations of doing well in the World Cup, and so we will continue to build in those areas.
“Defence is a massive part of being successful because that creates opportunities to get turnover attacks and so on, or force teams to kick to give us counterattack opportunities. So, the mindset is, I think you can play the type of game we’re playing, but you won’t play that for 80 minutes. You’ve got to play smart, get a balance, and apply pressure through smart kicking.
“Otherwise, the opposition knows you don’t kick. They’ll get 14 in the front line and make it difficult. There is a balance. I think you know people see us move the ball around a lot, but I don’t necessarily see the detail within that, and you know the quality of the carry and the brutality around the cleanout, that sort of physicality that allows you to play that type of game, and so they’re all things we’re working on.”