Dan Biggar highlights how All Blacks’ ‘identity’ has changed since Dave Rennie replaced Scott Robertson
All Blacks boss Dave Rennie and ex-Wales and British & Irish Lions fly-half Dan Biggar (inset).
Dan Biggar has highlighted the changes the All Blacks have made in their style of play since Dave Rennie became their new head coach.
In March, New Zealand Rugby announced that Rennie would take over the All Blacks’ coaching reins from Scott Robertson, who was axed from the position at the start of this year.
Rennie made a solid start to his reign as the men in black’s coach as they kicked off their Nations Championship campaign with successive victories over France (34-32), Italy (47-17) and Ireland (40-21).
That means they are in joint-pole position with the Springboks atop the Nations Championship’s Southern Hemisphere standings with their arch-rivals having a superior points difference.
Under the guidance of Sir Graham Henry and Sir Steve Hansen, New Zealand were renowned for their exciting style of play which resulted in them winning back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles in 2011 and 2015 and Biggar sees similarities with that approach since Rennie took over the All Blacks‘ coaching reins.
“Three times Rugby World Cup winners and back-to-back champions in 2011 and 2015, the All Blacks were considered the dominant force. But since that decade of dominance, I think few people would argue that Rassie Erasmus’ Springbok side have taken on the mantle of the best in the world,” the former Wales and British & Irish Lions fly-half said on Biggar Thinking: Rugby Analysis.
“There’s been growing speculation that the All Blacks have lost their aura, two years without a Rugby Championship, and the failed Scott “Razor” Robertson‘s tenure, only the second time ever New Zealand have sacked a coach mid-cycle.
Is Dave Rennie improving the All Blacks’ attack?
“But in the short period of time Dave Rennie has been head coach, are we starting to see glimpses of the attacking prowess that defined the great All Blacks side?
“That golden era of All Blacks sides was made up of pace, power, rugby IQ individuals, amazing individual players who came together as a team.
“But the one thing that stood out was their skill level. Just on another planet, it felt like they never gave you an inch, it felt like they never made any errors.
“It felt like if there was a front five forward in a wide channel, they’d spot it straight away and not waste one, two, three phases before getting there.
“And they were just a brilliant team. Their front five forwards were as good as their backs at handling, their back three players were as good as the front-row at breakdown contact skills, and it was just a complete team with brilliant half-backs in Dan Carter and Aaron Smith, and just had all the weapons around you.
“They got the ball into the wide channels, they didn’t give you a minute to breathe, and even if you felt you were in the game, their skill level, their power, their pace just came through in the last 15, 20 minutes. And they were a team who if they scored once, they’d then back it up and score twice, three times, four times, and take the game away from you.
“So that golden era were as skillful as any team I’ve seen, were as composed as any team I’ve seen, and their forwards could do what their backs could do, and their backs could do what the forwards could do as equally well.”
Biggar emphasised that Rennie’s influence on the current All Blacks side was evident during their recent Nations Championship Tests against France, Italy and Ireland and that the men in black’s playmakers have more freedom to express themselves.
“So under Dave Rennie, this All Blacks team has now become a very much possession-based team. So the recent Nations Championship rounds one, two, and three, they’re the team who have the most carries, the most passes,” he said.
“Now, if you’re a team that has the most passes, you’re obviously losing your forwards and your front five, a little bit like what we mentioned with the great All Blacks team, lots of tips at the line, lots of ball movement, moving the point of contact.
“But if you’re going to have the most passes in a team, you need to have ballplayers and second playmakers, and probably the All Blacks have got second and third playmakers in Ruben Love, who’s playing at 10. You’ve also got Damian McKenzie. You’ve also got Jordie Barrett.
“So the way in which they’re looking to play is they are looking to move the ball, shift the point of contact, and not engage in a traditional game of box kick to box kick and territory-based to territory-based.
“And Cam Roigard in one of his interviews said he’s really enjoying the style of play of not box kicking a huge amount. Only Fiji in the Nations Championship have kicked less than them from box kicks.
“21 (times) New Zealand have kicked. So that just goes to show that they are not looking to engage in that. And if you’ve got Jordie Barrett, if you’ve got Damian McKenzie in the wider channels, you can shift the ball, bring wingers up, move full-backs across, and then find space with a 50-22 or just finding territory that way.
“But a brilliant team. And when you play with two, three playmakers, you have to get the ball to the wide channels. Why do you play with two or three playmakers and why do you play with a ball player at 12 and 15?
“It’s because you want to get the ball into the wider channels as quickly as possible.
“And even if the ball is in the wide channel, you’ve then got two extra kicking options to little grubbers through to apply pressure that way rather than just going at the line one pass rugby kick and applying pressure that way. So when you play with two, three playmakers, you have to move the ball to space as quickly as possible.
Impressive attacking stats in the Nations Championship
“You’re not waiting for two, three, four, five phases for the defence to get set. You’re looking to take that straight away and capitalise. Looking at their attacking stats from the Nations Championship this year, they’ve had more carries and more passes per game than any other team.”
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Biggar also highlighted how different the All Blacks are in their approach compared to the Robertson era.
“A clear shift in structure, game plan, identity, whatever word you want to use from last year’s Rugby Championship under Scott Robertson, where they were very much a territory-based team and kick metres heavy to try and get results that way,” he explained.
“This team are looking to move the ball, lots of passes, lots of carries, and they’re not afraid to play lots of phases in their half.
“They do not want to just engage in kicking the ball back to the opposition to pressure. They would rather pressure you by asking your defence, can you defend for 16, 17, 18 phases, three, four, five times in a game.
“So it may look as if they’re running out of ideas or they’re looking like they’re forcing things a bit, but that’s the way they’ve chosen to apply pressure.
“If you can keep your skill set high, the first game of the Nations Championship against France, their error rate was off the charts. Lots of balls at the line being turned over, which relieved a lot of pressure off France.
“Week two, week three against Ireland in particular, the numbers were way, way down, and that’s why they were so clinical. So just putting a number on it to give you an idea of how much that structure and identity has changed in the last eight to nine months from Scott Robertson to Dave Rennie.
“They’re averaging an extra 90 carries per game and an extra 100 passes per game.
“Naturally, you’re going to make a lot more errors when you keep hold of the ball for that long, but you’re also asking defences a lot more questions for a lot longer. Are they going to step in?”