Ruben Love the confident pick at No.10 as All Blacks adopt 'optimistic' mindset

The selection of in-form first five Ruben Love is central to the new ‘optimistic’ philosophy within the All Blacks, with the 25-year-old earning his first start in the No.10 jersey on the back of his title-winning campaign with the Hurricanes.

Although Love is a capped All Black and was largely expected to win the job, the selection still signals a new era for the All Blacks. He will become the newest All Black first five since 2019, when Richie Mo’unga took the reins from Beauden Barrett ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Over the seven-year period since, it’s either been Mo’unga, Barrett or Damian McKenzie, as successive coaches Ian Foster and Scott Robertson backed whoever had the hot hand at the time.

With Barrett debuting for the All Blacks in 2012, McKenzie in 2017 and Mo’unga in 2018, there hasn’t been a genuine up-and-comer to challenge the trio until Love this year, with seven seasons and two Rugby World Cup campaigns of the same playmakers.

“He’s outstanding,” new All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie said of Love. “So I’m sure there won’t be too many arguments about our selection.”

Rennie is right about that.

The consensus was that Love had won the job by a landslide, with McKenzie the nearest challenger. After a one-sided final, it couldn’t be clearer: the All Blacks had to give him a shot. With Hurricanes’ teammates either side of him, he’s perfectly set up to succeed against France.

“He sits in amongst Cam and Jordie, which will give him a lot of comfort and a lot of combination and communication,” Rennie said.

“He’s done a fantastic job, Ruben. He’s really confident, really clear.”

The All Blacks are embracing optimism as they build a new attacking mindset around “scoring from anywhere” under Rennie, which will feed off the confidence of Love.

The new head coach talked about how the side is willing to score from anywhere if the opportunity exists. That means from their own five metres if the picture is good.

Love can deliver that kind of fast-paced decision-making, having run the best attack in Super Rugby this season, one that averaged over 40 points a game and took it up a gear in the playoffs.

It’s only been a week and a half in camp, but Rennie reiterated that the coaching staff have had three months to prepare. He’s been happy with the progress shown and with what he’s seen this week.

“The training today was excellent, lots of energy and excitement. Yeah, so we want them to express themselves. It’s Test match footy, we understand that. So it’s going to be times where we’re going to have to get into an arm wrestle, but we want to play with optimism.

“I think playing with optimism is a mindset around ‘how do you score from here?’ so I want us…  you know, if the opposition spill a ball or we get an advantage five minutes from our line, we’re thinking ‘how do we score from here?’

“But optimism is also around your work ethic, so if we’re optimistic, we’ll get people back and get people into position quickly, so you can play.”

All Blacks fans have waited several years for a new face running the cutter, and they will finally see it on Saturday night, with a game plan that looks to enable the best of what Love has to offer. There have been some explosive showings when a young, athletic playmaker has been unleashed in the black 10 jersey.

Beauden Barrett’s 2016 vintage against Wales was special; he was 25 years old, like Love is now. He came on for the injured Aaron Cruden in the second Test in Wellington and never looked back, sparking a huge second-half revival after a close first half and then piloting a third-Test hammering in Dunedin.

Damian McKenzie was finally given the No.10 jersey against France back in 2018 in the third Test. The 23-year-old scored two tries in a 49-14 demolition job.

Then, of course, there is Dan Carter against the British & Irish Lions on July 2, 2005, 21 years ago. He was also 23 and produced what many regard as the finest display ever.

It’s Love’s turn, on Saturday night, to rhyme with history and produce his own masterpiece to announce himself on the global stage.