Rennie hints at expanded McKenzie-Barrett partnership for Nations Championship

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has hinted at more game time for Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett as the 10-15 partnership ahead of the tour of Europe for round two of the Nations Championship fixtures.

With first choice No.10 Ruben Love ruled out with an ankle injury over the Bledisloe series, the All Blacks turned to 2024 Dream Team No.10 of the year Damian McKenzie with Beauden Barrett making his first start of the year.

The pair played a blinder in Sydney with Barrett grabbing a first half double while McKenzie was instrumental in pulling the strings on attack.

Rennie revealed that McKenzie will start against Scotland in the first match up before they reassess and just how much he likes having the two in the team.

“He’s been excellent, hasn’t he?” Rennie said of McKenzie.

“And and that’s a luxury we have. You lose a couple, and then you have someone of that quality coming in.

“I really like him and Beauden together. He spent a lot of time at first receiver, sharing the load, and just the organization and communication was a big part of it, especially with a midfield that actually hadn’t trained together in that second Test.

“So the plan is Damian is likely to be there and get Scotland, and then we’ll reassess. I mean, I just like him on the field, whether it’s 10 or 15, and yeah. And so we’ll make a decision based on the best squad for Wales.”

Richie Mo’unga returned to action for the All Blacks in South Africa but injury sidelined him for the Bledisloe series. He’s been selected again to go on the tour, along with uncapped rookie Josh Jacomb.

“We look we considered it. He’s likely to tour at the end of the year and get his opportunity,” Rennie said of Jacomb ahead of the second Bledisloe.

The squad named for the November touring window didn’t include any bolters, instead opting for more of a refined squad off the back of the RGR tour of South Africa.

Rennie advised that the South Africa tour was a testing exercise where the new coaching staff obtained a lot of information on the new players.

“We’ve picked the best possible squad,” Rennie said at today’s announcement.

“That was the advantage of a tour to Africa, and we took 44, but we ended up having 49 over there, and so we’ve learnt a lot about a lot of players.

“You know, there’s often talk about you know taking apprentices away and things like that, which hasn’t been done for a lot of years, but we took away a lot of players to to Africa.

“So we’re in a really good spot. We’ve got a strong understanding of a lot of the players.”