All Blacks team v Springboks: Five takeaways as tour ‘accelerates’ for duo but Dave Rennie ignores Richie Mo’unga ‘temptation’
New Zealand's Tupou Vaa'i goes on the attack in last weekend's first Test and, inset, retained fly-half Ruben Love
Following the announcement of Dave Rennie’s All Blacks team to face the Springboks this Saturday in Cape Town, here are our five takeaways from his selection for Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry second Test.
The top line
With the final franchise match of the tour won on Tuesday against the Lions, only the serious business of the Test series remains for New Zealand on their engrossing South African trip.
Saturday’s showdown in Cape Town offers the chance to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match Test series, which will culminate in the United States of America on September 12, and Rennie will go into it with a XV showing three changes from last weekend’s success in Johannesburg.
The All Blacks were deserving 33-16 winners at Ellis Park, with a late flourish easing them to the finish line after an hour when they seemed on the verge of collapse.
Injury has forced Rennie’s hand with the second Test pack. Loosehead Ethan de Groot and lock Josh Lord were both subbed off with head injuries after they accidentally collided last Saturday, and with the pair still on the HIA mend, their places have gone to promoted subs George Bower and Simon Parker.
While Bower’s inclusion is a straight swap for De Groot, Parker’s upgrade has resulted in a positional reshuffle, with Tupou Vaa’i switching from back-row to second-row and Parker taking the role Vaa’i has in Test one.
Along with Vaa’i, the other retained starting forwards are Codie Taylor and Tyrel Lomax in the front-row, Fabian Holland in the second-row, with Luke Jacobson and skipper Ardie Savea in the back-row.
Switching to the backline, there is just one change from the series-opening win with Leroy Carter rotated to start this weekend on the left wing in place of the benched Josh Moorby.
It means Rennie has stuck with Cam Roigard and Ruben Love as his starting half-backs, Jordie Barrett and Quinn Tupaea as his favoured midfield, with right wing Will Jordan and full-back Damian McKenzie now combining in the backfield with Carter.
The promotion of Bower and Parker from the bench to start has resulted in sub call-ups for Xavier Numia and Patrick Tuipulotu. Rennie has again preferred a five/three split, with hooker Asafo Aumua, tighthead Fletcher Newell and back-row Peter Lakai named as the other cover forwards.
As regards the backline bench, Kyle Preston and Anton Lienert-Brown are retained and will sit with the demoted Moorby.
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Parker’s tour acceleration
Parker’s inclusion on No.6 is a sharp demonstration of how fast life on tour can accelerate. The 26-year-old Chiefs loose forward was ignored by Rennie for last month’s three-match Nations Championship, and his tour starts in South Africa versus the Stormers and the Bulls were viewed as just opportunities for him to stretch his legs, not threaten Test team involvement for the first time since last year under the axed Scott Robertson.
However, one man’s injury is always another’s big opportunity, and so it has proven this past week. Parker’s name was nowhere to be seen last Thursday when Rennie unveiled his first Test matchday squad, but he was brought in from the cold on Saturday as a replacement for bench pick Anton Segner, who couldn’t shake off the ankle ailment that eventually ruled him out of the rest of the tour.
Parker went on to taste Test action as early as the closing minutes of the first half with Lord requiring a HIA that he failed. With the second-row still not right following that head knock, Rennie had now named Parker to start the second Test and build on the 42 minutes he had at Ellis Park.
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The head coach could have gone with the vastly more experienced Tuipulotu to start. Remember, he was excellent in last month’s outing versus Ireland. However, the decision was taken to only include the 57-cap Tuipulotu on the bench and instead shunt Vaa’i into the second-row and pair up with Holland and give the nine-cap Parker the nod at No.6.
He wasn’t a feature on the ball in Johannesburg, but his level of grunt, which included making upwards of eight tackles, was seen as a valuable contribution worth being rewarded with a start in the team the second time around.
The backing of Bower
Bower’s situation wasn’t in the same postcode as Parker’s coming into this Greatest Rivalry tour. Whereas Parker was idle during the Nations Championship, Bower had 31 minutes off the bench in the round two win over Italy in Wellington.
Rookie Test prop Numia was Rennie’s cover preference in the victories against France and Ireland, and it was expected he would remain ahead of Bower in the pecking order for the series against South Africa. He didn’t.
Numia started against the Bulls in the final warm-up match, but Rennie must have seen something in that game in Pretoria to flip the running order for Test one, as Bower was included as the bench cover for De Groot with Numia excluded. New Zealand’s scrum versus the Springboks was rotten, even after Bower came on nearing the interval, but it somehow managed to survive the filleting.
Incredibly, the match momentum altered with referee Matthew Carley penalising Gerhard Steenekamp nearing the mid-point of the second half when the Springboks opted to scrum to try and win a third successive set-piece penalty in the same period of pressure rather than kick at goal and tie it up at 19-all.
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Bower revelled in the madness of it all, his 27th cap resulting in a sensational victory for his team, and with De Groot still only recovering from his bang, Rennie has promoted the 34-year-old Bower to start at the DHL Stadium.
It’s a huge call. Having seen their dominant scrum fail to reap a sufficient reward at Ellis Park, the Springboks will be hell-bent on making it count in Cape Town and how Bower copes will be crucial. Having has a feel for the heat of the battle last weekend, he has been backed to firefight from the start with Numia on standby if things go awry.
As with Parker, it’s another huge example of how quickly the outlook can change on tour and how a player’s seemingly lowly position in the pecking order rapidly accelerates upwards.
Moorby’s benching
We mentioned this time last week, after Rennie had confirmed his first Test selection, how the inclusion of rookie Moorby on the left wing came with the concern that he had not started on tour with full-back McKenzie and right wing Jordan.
It was an example of how Rennie had tried to keep his preferred combinations under wraps in South Africa, muddying the waters with his line-ups, and that the reality was he was going to favour as many of his July 18 starters in the comfortable Auckland win over Ireland for the Test series open against the Springboks.
Moorby’s defending was caught off guard in Johannesburg, Andre Esterhuizen breezing past him to score with ease 14 minutes into the match, but the New Zealander, who was only making his third Test appearance, hit back and was on the scoresheet himself nine minutes later.
He went on to play 64 minutes of the match, only giving way to Carter with 16 minutes remaining and the All Blacks 26-16 ahead, but it seems as if his level of defence has counted against him for this Cape Town Test.
Credited with making four tackles, he was also listed in the post-game statistics as having missed three, and the heavy outcome is his demotion to the bench for Test two with Carter named to start.
Getting dropped will be a test of Moorby’s character and it will be interesting how he reacts. New Zealand need him to chin up and help bring the bench energy.
Ignoring Mo’unga and McKenzie’s consistent selection
Richie Mo’unga’s return to the All Blacks has been like the second coming of Christ in terms of its favour, but head coach Rennie has resisted the temptation to hook the fast-learning Love and parachute a legend of the game into the Test side.
Having been away from the international scene since the final of Rugby World Cup 2023, there has been no fast-tracked return for him since leaving Japan and taking up a deal back at the Crusaders.
Rather than becoming instantly eligible for selection, the NZR insisted that Mo’unga must play NPC for Canterbury before Rennie could bring him in. Even now, having started last Tuesday’s hard-fought win over the Lions in Johannesburg, the 32-year-old is still on the outside, with Love instead preferred for the second Test.
With the Springboks opting to recall the veteran Handre Pollard to their XV and bench young Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, there was surely an All Blacks conversation about whether they would be best served by naming Mo’unga, who battled Pollard in the 2023 final in Paris. However, Rennie ensured the head ruled the heart, ignoring the headline temptation to recall Mo’unga and demote Love.
It’s good husbandry from the head coach: Despite some glimpses of creative brilliance, the 56-cap Mo’unga wasn’t fully up to speed versus the Lions and to remove the nine-cap Love from the Test team after he helped them to a famous Ellis Park win last Saturday would be a draconian setback in his encouraging development.
Elsewhere, the marmite McKenzie deserved a shoutout. Love or hate him, his value to the All Blacks continues as Saturday will be his 34th consecutive Test selection in the matchday squad. That’s quite the achievement for someone who quickly becomes the focus for public criticism when results don’t favour New Zealand.
