Dave Rennie on All Blacks selection: 'The game on Tuesday made it a bit clearer'

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie hinted at changes for Test three of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour after announcing his matchday 23 for Test two.

The changes would be rewarding the players who lifted the All Blacks to victory over the Lions in a dramatic game at Ellis Park on Tuesday. It was a match in which New Zealand trailed for just shy of a full hour, but sprinted home with four consecutive tries in the final 30 minutes.

Some of the big statistical performers of the night included Ethan Blackadder with 15 carries, Rieko Ioane and Emoni Narawa with three linebreaks each, and Timoci Tavatavanawai with eight tackle busts.

The efforts appear to have impressed Rennie enough to consider changes to his top matchday 23, but not for this week.

“The game on Tuesday probably made it a little bit clearer,” the coach responded when asked how difficult it was to select his team for Saturday’s Cape Town Test. “We had some guys who had massive performances on Tuesday, but the fact that they’d played 80 minutes at altitude meant that it’s probably not ideal for them to come into the group. Especially if they haven’t played big minutes.

“So, we’ve gone for a group of guys who are fresh, and I think five of the guys on the bench played a bit of game time on Tuesday.

“We had really good discussions, but the fact that we had a fresh group who also trained together on Tuesday made sense to pick this team.”

There are three changes to the starting XV, but only one is form-related. While George Bower is promoted to the starting team to replace the injured Ethan de Groot, and Simon Parker comes in for the injured Josh Lord, the change on the left wing is a voluntary one by Rennie.

Leroy Carter, who came into the Ellis Park Test off the bench, has swapped places with Josh Moorby, who was guilty of missing the tackle that led to South Africa’s only try in the match.

“It was a really tight choice even last week. Both of those boys played against the Bulls and played really well. We felt Josh started the Irish game and went very well in his previous two Tests. So there’s not much in that. I think if you look at Leroy, he’s probably a better defender. And we think that’ll be important.”