Rennie weighs in on selection call between Tavatavanawai and Lienert-Brown

For the majority of 2026, All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has made a fine-line decision to leave Timoci Tavatavanwai on the sidelines, mostly in place of Anton Lienert-Brown, but not this week in Edinburgh.

The Highlanders midfielder will wear the No.22 jersey this weekend at Murrayfield against Scotland, where the home side are in search of their breakthrough victory over the All Blacks.

Tavatavanawai, who predominantly featured in midweek matches in South Africa, gets another opportunity under Rennie, this time off the bench.

The barnstorming midfielder was a late call-up to start the second Bledisloe Cup Test in Sydney after Jordie Barrett pulled out with a tight calf, playing over 60 minutes in the No.12 jersey.

Tavatavanawai had 13 carries and nine tackles at Accor Stadium, and will get his chance to provide the All Blacks with impact at Murrayfield.

Rennie, who spoke to media at the All Blacks’ Edinburgh hotel, explained the Highlanders No.12 will give them a “point of difference”.

“Yeah, obviously Anton’s come back from injury. We think Timoci will give us like a bit of a point of difference,” the All Blacks head coach said in Edinburgh.

“If he’s coming on with 20 to go, with his power and his post-tackle presence, we’re reasonably happy with what we got out of him last Test.

“I think he started and he started to blow out a little bit late, but yeah, the plan was to get him off earlier than that, but because we had a lot of injuries early, things change.

“So yeah, we think his contribution off the bench will be good.”

Another selection call which some may not have predicted is at halfback, where Chiefs halfback Cortez Ratima is preferred to Kyle Preston.

Ratima missed large parts of the gruelling South Africa tour through a knee injury, but returned for Waikato in the Hilux NPC and made himself available for the Nations Championship tour.

Preston, on the other hand, played every game in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, but Rennie admitted the coaching staff believe there’s little between the two reserve halfbacks.

“Look, between Cortez and KP, we don’t think it’s an enormous amount. But he [Ratima] obviously had a knee injury in South Africa; he’s over that totally, and looking really sharp at training.

“So he brings a lot of energy, speed to the ball, and a really high–quality skill set. So if you want to lift the pace late in the game, he’s great for that.”