Stats show how Du'Plessis Kirifi earned his All Blacks recall

All Blacks coach Dave Rennie is backing Du’Plessis Kirifi to deliver “something a little bit different” in his hard-earned All Blacks return in Sydney tomorrow night.

Kirifi had to wait for a call-up to the All Blacks squad under Rennie, but now that it’s arrived, he won’t have to wait for his chance in the matchday 23. A handful of injuries to his fellow loose forwards have thrown the Hurricanes co-captain straight into the firing line as a reserve in this weekend’s second Bledisloe Cup Test.

Ardie Savea’s season is done due to a shoulder injury, and he’s joined on the long-term rehab list by Luke Jacobson with his elbow tendon problem. Both injuries were sustained in the third Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry in Johannesburg. Ethan Blackadder was next on the injury report with a calf problem, and Anton Segner sustained a concussion when colliding with Asafo Aumua at Eden Park last weekend.

The depleted loose forward stocks at least made it “a bit easier” for Rennie and his selectors to pick the matchday 23 for the Sydney sequel, after it took three selection meetings to settle on last week’s final team sheet.

“There were a couple of tight positions where our thinking was that we’d make changes this week in those spots, and there’s been a couple of injuries, so yeah, a little bit more straightforward this week,” Rennie said after unveiling his team on Thursday.

The coach told reporters last week that Kirifi’s penalty-to-turnover ratio wasn’t up to scratch during the Super Rugby Pacific season. The numbers show that Kirifi won 11 turnovers and was penalised 10 times in his 13 games. Those numbers improved to 13 turnovers and just four penalties for Wellington in the NPC, an improvement Rennie labelled “much better reward.”

“Du’Plessis, I guess there’s been a lot of talk about him over the last few months,” the coach said. “Look, he’s a hell of a player. Had a big season with the Hurricanes. There’s a couple of areas that we asked him to work on, especially post-tackle, and it’s more around technical excellence, so he’s going to get rewarded rather than penalised. He’s worked really hard in that area; he’s been sending us in videos showing him training it, and so on.

“So yeah, with the guys we got missing in Anton and Ardie and Luke and Ethan as well, we felt we needed someone to give us genuine post-tackle presence. Obviously we’ve got Pete Lakai out there, but I think Dupes can offer something a little bit different.”