Kieran Read: Where the All Blacks must ‘match’ the Springboks’ ‘proven formula’
Springboks front rower Zach Porthen and an inset of All Blacks legend Kieran Read.
Kieran Read believes that the All Blacks can still change games without moving away from the traditional 5-3 bench split but has urged Dave Rennie to be bold against the Springboks.
Rassie Erasmus popularised the forward-heavy bench at the 2019 Rugby World Cup with South Africa regularly utilising the ploy since, kicking it up a notch in 2023 with 7-1 splits.
While France, Argentina, Scotland and England have followed suit, largely shifting away from the 5-3 set-up, New Zealand have been incredibly reluctant to do so. Ian Foster selected a 6-2 split just once during his tenure while Scott Robertson named the traditional 5-3 in every Test match he oversaw.
Dave Rennie revealed that he would be bucking the trend in South Africa as he would select a more forward-heavy bench against one of the United Rugby Championship clubs. The role of the replacements bench has been a lethal weapon for the Boks recently, and former All Blacks number eight and captain Read believes that Rennie’s eight on the bench need to match the efforts of the South Africans.
Kieran Read: We need to match the Springboks
He has backed rookie All Blacks back-rower Anton Segner to thrive as a replacement after his performances against Italy and Ireland during the Nations Championship matches in New Zealand.
“If I look at how Segner played Italy, he deserved the opportunity to be in that 23 for Ireland and I actually feel he was probably one of our better loose forwards – if you look at impacts. He’s making a great play for himself to say, ‘Hey, look, I need to be in here in some way, shape or form.’ I like that mix of it. We have to match them [the Springboks] on the bench,” he said on The Good, The Bad & The Rugby Australia & New Zealand podcast.
“There’s no two ways around it, and I’m not saying match them in terms of having the same size; I’m saying we have got to match them with impacts.
“For how good Asafo Aumua was when he played a long time two weeks ago, his impact off the bench might just be more powerful than bringing someone with a bit more experience like Codie Taylor off the bench – so that’s why they’ll go that way.
“I think it’s impact, it’s not size; it’s impact that we need off the bench because South Africa have a proven formula of lifting the bar across the 80 minutes and scoring big points at the end of games.”
All Blacks need their bench to step up
While he says that the All Blacks will need big performances from the replacement players, he doesn’t think they have to move away from the 5-3 split to achieve that.
“South Africa go 6-2. That’s their consistent play,” he said before he was asked whether Rennie has to select a 6-2 bench.
“No, we don’t,” he replied.
“But we can because we are playing Damian McKenzie at full-back. So we can because normally you’ve got a half-back, a first five and midfield or outside back on the bench as backs, right? So we don’t necessarily need to have a first-five on the bench, and we’ve seen that- we’ve had a midfielder and we’ve had an outside back. So you could get rid of one of those players theoretically.
“I’m not sure if that’s the best play for us, but we could do it because we’ve got the guys who can shift. Personally, I think we want to be able to change the game through a traditional bench just so we can utilise our backs in a way that maybe gives us a different option if we need it.”
Former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall added: “If things start to wobble, you might need to put Will Jordan back to full-back and look at the dynamic there and bring a different style of player off the bench and you can only do that if you are carrying those three back reserves. Like a Billy Proctor for example, and all of a sudden the backline looks a little different.”
That sparked a slight change of opinion from Read, who said that the All Blacks need to be bold in their selection and when the replacements are introduced.
“So I get that. I’m just thinking about what I just said and what you just said, and I’m going, ‘Is that too conservative?’ Do we have to just lay it out there and go if we get an injury, we could be a bit f—ed, but to be honest, we can’t really afford to just sit back and be conservative there,” he said.
“So, we’ve got to go be really bold with those selections and actually make the selections and be bold to make the substitutions when it matters.”
Perfect opportunity for Dave Rennie to trial the split
Marshall believes that Anton Lienert-Brown’s selection suggests that Rennie is willing to give the forward-heavier bench split a run for the All Blacks, a tactic that Robertson was reluctant to deploy.
“Well, we have got the perfect opportunity to do that in those provincial games because we were just super reluctant to do it,” the former half-back replied.
“Razor didn’t do it in the time that he coached the All Blacks. We haven’t seen anything from Dave Rennie and his coaching group to go that’s where we want to go. There’s no reason why we don’t have the flexibility to be able to do it and just look at it.
“For example, against the Stormers, we’re going to go 6-2 split. It’s not rocket science around the fact that that’s why Anton Lienert-Brown is back in the squad, because he can play across the backline. So, they’ve used him the last two weeks as their back reserve because slotting him into the midfield at 12 or 13 enables other players to shift around the back line quite comfortably.”
“It will be interesting,” he continued.
“It’s something that we’ve been very stubborn on for some reason, not wanting to go to that blend on the bench.”
Read added: “Well, the other thing is too, right, like so we don’t have that hybrid player, but you carry a nine on the bench, and look at the French who do this and their reserve half-back doesn’t get on because Dupont will play 78 minutes.
“Roigard is in that position where I think we can back his fitness that he’ll probably be playing as long as he can. It’s a tough one to not have a half-back on the bench, but the question is, can you pick a Grant Williams who is a half-back who can play on the wing?”
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Where South Africa have an advantage
Marshall believes that South Africa have an advantage over the All Blacks through Andre Esterhuizen, with the centre becoming a hybrid player for the Springboks last year, playing centre and flanker off the bench.
New Zealand were set to have a similar weapon in the form of Leicester Fainga’anuku. The 26-year-old sustained a fibula fracture and a high ankle sprain in the Crusaders’ Super Rugby Pacific semi-final defeat to the Chiefs which has ruled him out of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour.
Like Esterhuizen, Fainga’anuku can play in the backs and the forwards, having started his career as an outside centre/wing before moving into the back-row during his stint at RC Toulon. During the latter half of the Crusaders’ season, he played in the number seven jersey for Rob Penney’s men.
“It would have been really interesting if Leicester Fainga’anuku was available because he is that type of player that can cover the midfield and the loosies,” Marshall said.
“It looks completely different then because should you be struggling in the midfield, boom, you just throw him in at centre, or should the looks like the fatigue’s coming in the lucy’s and you can put them in there. So that’s that one advantage that the South Africans do have with Esterhuizen.”
Read concluded the discussion, saying that Fainga’anuku’s setback is a huge blow for the All Blacks.
“So those three guys are unavailable. Tamaiti Williams, Leicester, and Scott Barrett – those three guys that are, in my opinion, guaranteed to be in the 23 potentially starting players and we’re missing them. You are always going to have guys out, but they’re pretty damn big players for us to miss.”