Dave Rennie lifts lid on Timcoci Tavatavanwai's All Blacks omissions

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has offered some insight into what is holding Timoci Tavatavanawai back in the New Zealand selection picture, revealing the bruising Highlanders star has been challenged to improve his work rate.

One of the game’s most powerful backline threats, Tavatavanawai beat 81 defenders in 13 games for the Highlanders this season, leading the category for the second straight year with 17 more than the next-best player, Leictester Fainga’anuku.

Also an elite jackal threat, the 28-year-old’s point of difference is well known to the Kiwi faithful, but Tavavtavanawai’s Test career totals just 39 minutes of game time. Some non-Test minutes came his way during Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, but with Jordie Barrett and Quinn Tupaea forming a world-class centre partnership, opportunities in the international arena have been hard to come by for ‘Big Jim’.

Rennie offered more detail when asked about another omission at last week’s team naming.

“So Big Jim’s fantastic when he’s close to the ball; his carry, tackle, and post-tackle are excellent,” the coach replied.

“His work rate has got better, and so that’s a continued focus for him. The type of game that we play, we need our midfielders doing a hell of a lot of work off the ball and that sort of thing, and so we feel the guys that we’ve picked are better in that area.

“But he’s gone well. It was the reason we took him to South Africa: we wanted him to make shifts in that area. We felt if we didn’t take him there and didn’t get him moving, he’s probably unlikely to be an option at the World Cup.

“So, he’s gone well, and he may well feature, if not next week, then on the end of year tour.”

Indeed, at every All Blacks training window media attended in South Africa and Baltimore, Tavatavanawai and rookie teammate Semisi Ta’eiloa were seen running. While each positional group worked on its specific skill set – playmakers passing under pressure, kickers kicking, props scrumming – Tavatavanawai and Ta’eiloa worked on their cardio.

Another development in the Tavatavanawai tale was him suiting up in the No.13 jersey for Tasman two weeks ago, just the third time he’s been named at centre in his professional career.

“We didn’t ask for that,” Rennie said. “We’re happy for him to play. I mean, it’s a bit like us; our midfielders might wear 12 and 13, but at times they’re swapping roles. Obviously, they’ve got David Harili down there and Jim, so, I bet they tend to swap in and out.”