Dave Rennie outlines reasoning behind Anton Lienert-Brown's Wales selection

With Jordie Barrett not selected after a concussion against Scotland at Murrayfield, All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has put faith in Anton Lienert-Brown to start against Wales this weekend in Cardiff.

Lienert-Brown has been a constant in the All Blacks frame when fit under Rennie, and will start the Nations Championship Test at the Principality Stadium alongside Quinn Tupaea in the midfield.

Tupaea missed most of the second Bledisloe Cup Test at Sydney’s Accor Stadium only a matter of weeks ago, after picking up a concussion in the first minute against the Wallabies.

The Chiefs midfielder returned for the All Blacks’ first Nations Championship game of the November window against Scotland, alongside Barrett.

Rennie opted for the experienced combination of Lienert-Brown and Tupaea, rather than Highlanders midfielder Timoci Tavatavanawai and Blues outside-back Rieko Ioane.

Ioane will make his 93rd Test appearance this weekend at Principality Stadium, while Tavatavanawai was not selected despite playing in the last two fixtures for Rennie’s All Blacks.

Addressing his selections at their Cardiff hotel, Rennie explained why he opted for the experience of Lienert-Brown over other squad options.

“Quinn gives us continuity, and Anton’s got a huge amount of experience,” Rennie explained.

“Those guys have played a lot of footy together. Timoci got his crack last week. It was a short amount of time in the end, but yeah, we got a lot of confidence in Anton, and I’ve coached him in a lot of games in multiple countries, so rate him highly.

“I think his experience, his communication, and his work ethic will be really important for us.”

The All Blacks head coach said that although they have made several changes to both the starting lineup and the bench, he feels as though the side to take on Wales has enough experience and quality to shine.

“We’ve got a lot of competition for places, and there’s a number of positions where there’s not a lot of difference, and so we’ve put a lot of emphasis on creating depth, and we’re confident that the guys who’ve been given an opportunity will bar up and apply pressure on us for selection the following week.

“So it’s a good blend. I think we’ve got seven guys who started last week still there, which gives us continuity, and a number of the guys who’ve come back in have started tests recently, so it’s a good side.”

Having not picked Josh Jacomb, Saula Ma’u, and Chay Fihaki in the first Nations Championship Test last weekend against Scotland, the trio may not feature at all during the four-Test tour.

Rennie made it clear that it was largely due to making sure the 23-man squad had enough experience, if they were to be under pressure against Wales.

“We just decided in the end it will give us a little bit more experience. I mean, if we got under pressure with so many guys lacking experience, it could put us under a bit of pressure,” Rennie said at his team naming press conference.

“So we want to pay respect to Wales too. They’re a good side, and I know the coaches really well, so they’ll have a plan and they’ll be pretty fired up to put in a quality performance, and so we’ve picked a side that we think will show some respect for them. ”