Dave Rennie's initial assessment of Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has provided his initial assessment of his side’s 3-1 series defeat against the Springboks, after clinching the first Test at Ellis Park.

The All Blacks fell to yet another defeat in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, their third straight loss to the Springboks in 2026.

Rennie’s side scored a late consolation try through experienced playmaker Beauden Barrett, but it wasn’t anywhere near enough, as Rassie Erasmus’ Springboks powered home in Baltimore.

Speaking to former All Black Justin Marshall post-match, the All Blacks head coach was quick to point out the effort of his side.

“Yeah, look, the boys put in a massive shift again,” Rennie told Sky Sport.

“You look at all the numbers, and everything’s very even, but they were electric, and when they got their opportunities, and we were trying to chase the game late and put ourselves under a bit more pressure.”

The 62-year-old head coach admitted that coming to South Africa, and the USA, to play the Springboks in a four-Test series, wasn’t going to be easy.

“So yeah, look, it’s disappointing because we had plans of winning a series, but the work ethic’s been excellent.

“The guys have been great. I knew coming here we would grow and learn a lot about each other, and that’s been awesome, so I think that we’re in a good place.

“Tonight will hurt, but you know we’ll wake up tomorrow, and I think be moving in the right direction.

“We’re still trying to build, so I thought our set piece was much stronger tonight, which is important, and we’ll take a lot of confidence from that.

“And we probably didn’t kick as well as we wanted to tonight, and gave them a lot more space. And so it’s a lot of small things that we’ve been focusing on, and I think our carry and clean, you’ve got to earn it against these guys, and we have to work hard for our points.”

Despite the disappointing defeat, Rennie believes they have made strides in different aspects of the game.

“What we know is we get our attack going, we get a bit of continuity, we can score, and I think we scored 17 tries in the four tests.

“So we’ve got to do that consistently, and I think we’ve defended pretty well throughout the series, and you know, we got beaten by a couple of their flash bullies tonight.

“A great feed and quick and hurt us, but yeah, look, I think we made really good strides.”