Sir John Kirwan ‘stoked’ by ‘old style All Blacks flair’ as ‘two game plans’ emerge in Nations Championship
New All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and legendary former player Sir John Kirwan.
All Blacks legend Sir John Kirwan was left delighted by the All Blacks’ start under new head coach Dave Rennie following their victory over France.
New Zealand overcame Les Bleus 34-32 in Christchurch as they opened their Nations Championship campaign with an important victory.
While it was only a narrow success, the style of play was in stark contrast to what they produced under Rennie’s predecessor, Scott Robertson.
They kicked very little and played some free-flowing rugby at times, scoring five tries in the victory at the weekend.
‘Expansive’ All Blacks
“For the new regime, Dave Rennie and his staff, it was really important. What I liked was the expansiveness,” Kirwan said on the Rivals podcast.
“There seems to be this word that keeps coming out of the camp, we’ve got to play with ‘optimism’, and I thought there was some real old style All Blacks flair.
“There were a couple of stray passes that could have finished them off but I thought it was a nice balance.
“[Ruben] Love at 10, besides getting yellow carded really early, he played well. I think there was a little bit of a hangover from Super Rugby where sometimes you just kick it out of your half and just get it out of there, and I don’t think you can do that at international level – we won’t be able to do that against South Africa.
“He’ll learn that but I thought it was a pretty good start. The combination of nine, 10 and 12 was a good start, so positives all round, I was really stoked.”
Sir Steve Hansen: Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks are misleading everyone about how they want to play
Although Rennie understands that the All Blacks have some way to catch up to the Springboks, who hammered England 45-21 in Johannesburg, there were enough promising signs for Kirwan.
Robertson was criticised for a perceived conservative game plan and perhaps looking to South Africa for inspiration, but the former wing believes that the two countries are diverging once again.
Comparisons to Springboks style
“I think it’s the game plan,” Kirwan said.
“The hardest part of playing South Africa is their ability to retain the possession but also that box-kick where they put you under pressure and you either knock it on or they recover it.
“What happened against England was they didn’t have the ball.
“I think it’s the game plan and I think we’re shaping out to see two different game plans. South Africa, it’s their DNA: hard running forwards, really good set-piece but also that box-kick where they starve you of the ball.
“Whereas the All Blacks are going to be looking to play a bit more of an expansive game and run everybody off their feet, or try to.
“I think it will be two different styles.”
