Dave Rennie explains another All Blacks blindside flanker experiment

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie says he wanted to field a bigger pack against Ireland, and has done so by moving Tupou Vaa’i from the second row to the loose forwards.

Vaa’i will link up with Luke Jacobson and Ardie Savea in the back row, 11 months after last running out in the N0.6 jersey for New Zealand against Los Pumas in Argentina.

It will be the 26-year-old’s sixth start on the blindside flank at Test level, with his first appearance there coming against France in the 2023 Rugby World Cup opener.

Experimenting with the No.6 jersey remains a touchy subject for All Blacks fans, with the scars from Scott Barrett’s brief trial in the position in the 2019 Rugby World Cup semi-final loss to England proving slow to heal.

But Rennie is now the third successive All Blacks coach to turn to Vaa’i for the No.6 role, selecting him ahead of a talented loose forward unit that includes plenty of youth and dynamism. As Rennie told reporters in Auckland on Thursday, those traits weren’t atop his wishlist.

“He gives us a bigger lineout, a bigger pack. We feel he’s got a skill set that suits what we want and are keen to give him another crack there,” the coach explained.

When asked if the selection was a sign of things to come, Rennie said: “We’ll judge things as we go.”

“We’re going to come up against some big packs throughout the year, and he’s athletic enough to play on the blindside, but a very good lineout forward, so gives us another strong option there.”

Team Form

Last 5 Games

47 - 17

34 - 32

26 - 52

33 - 19

17 - 25

20 - 36

31 - 33

43 - 21

27 - 17

21 - 42

4

Wins

5

3

Streak

5

25

Tries Scored

25

52

Points Difference

71

3/5

First Try

3/5

3/5

First Points

3/5

3/5

Race To 10 Points

3/5

The call comes with Andy Farrell’s Ireland squad in town, looking to end New Zealand’s 52-game unbeaten run at Eden Park. Rennie said his selections were made to combat the threats Ireland pose.

“It’s a big pack for us, so we’re well aware of the importance of set piece. Ireland are very good, they’re very disciplined, they’ll put you in a corner, and they’ll hurt you down there. So we’ve picked a pack that we think can compete and hopefully give us an edge.”

Last week, it was Wallace Sititi who started on the blindside for New Zealand in a performance that produced a game-high in carries, but also in turnovers lost, and penalties conceded. Rennie confirmed that Sititi is fit and available, but has not earned selection this week.

“It’s fair to say he wasn’t at his best on the weekend. He was pretty good off the bench the week before, and there’s a lot of competition for places there. He’ll play a lot of footy for us this year, but he’s got a reasonably clear message around what we need to see from him, and really happy with the response we’ve got out of him this week.”

Vaa’i was unavailable for selection two weeks ago in Christchurch against France, and Rennie later revealed selectors had initially considered him an option to start at blindside in that Test. Peter Lakai was ultimately selected for the role in Vaa’i’s absence.

Lakai is joined on the bench by Anton Segner for the Auckland Test, with no second-row cover required due to Vaa’i’s move, according to the coach.

“We feel with Tups on the field we can move him to second row, so having a couple of guys we think can bring some genuine impact will be good for us,” Rennie said.

Josh Lord and Patrick Tuipulotu will start in the second row, with the latter finally available after missing the opening two Tests of July due to injury. It’s a familiar story for the 33-year-old, who has played 57 Tests in 12 seasons with the national side.

“He’s had a lot of little niggles, it’s been a challenging year for him,” Rennie said of Tuipulotu. “He’s constantly had niggles and maybe never really been 100 per cent. We could have pushed him out there last week, but we just wanted to give him one more week to have a really good training week last week and this week, to give him confidence to go out and go full throttle.

“As you know, he’s a big man, has genuine impact, and it’ll be nice for him to string some Tests together.”