What makes Kyle Preston an outlier among new All Blacks selections

Kyle Preston may not be an aspiring debutant, but Monday’s All Blacks squad naming was the first time he’s been officially selected in a New Zealand squad, earning his place ahead of some of the country’s more established names.

Last year, Preston got his chance when Cam Roigard, Cortez Ratima, and Noah Hotham were all injured, coming off the bench for Finlay Christie against South Africa. This year, he has jumped at least the latter two on that list to be selected in Dave Rennie’s first All Blacks squad.

The call was widely received as one of, if not the, biggest surprises in the squad naming by pundits, with Hotham, who starts ahead of Preston at the Crusaders, just 23 years of age and therefore presumed to be only ascending in his brief and injury-troubled Test career.

Hotham played just shy of 850 minutes for the Crusaders this season, with analysis of the squad naming highlighting that figure as a seemingly important metric.

“You know that to play in a Dave Rennie side, you’re going to have to be — and I love this word — robust,” ex-All Black James Parsons said when reacting to the squad announcement this week on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod. “And they’ve all played high minutes throughout Super Rugby. If you go through all of their minutes, most of them are over 850. The newcomers are all over 1000.”

Team Form

Last 5 Games

26 - 52

33 - 19

17 - 25

13 - 26

14 - 28

48 - 46

50 - 40

33 - 8

12 - 54

36 - 14

4

Wins

4

1

Streak

1

21

Tries Scored

30

47

Points Difference

81

4/5

First Try

4/5

3/5

First Points

4/5

4/5

Race To 10 Points

5/5

What makes Preston an outlier in this context is the fact that his minutes tally from the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season is just 238. Those minutes came from 11 bench performances, with Preston only having started four games for the Crusaders in his Super Rugby career, all coming in Hotham’s absence last year.

Former Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall, however, said the 26-year-old’s skill set is unique within New Zealand’s talent pool.

“I think he’s probably the best kicking nine in the country,” Hall said.

“The fact that he can kick off both feet, let’s not underestimate how hard that is and how good it is when you’re looking to exit from both sides of the park. What Kyle does really well is just his execution. The box kick is a big part of the game in international rugby, and it’s not going anywhere. They did it at Kobe; you’re going to need a contestable kicking game.

“I think he’s shown the ability to close out games, also. Cam Roigard’s going to be your number one, and then can you have a guy come on that does that (bench) role that he (Preston) does at the Crusaders very well; he came on and won the championship last year. He was able to be that closer.”

For Parsons, the selection highlights the intended tactics of the new coaching group, which includes former Scotland halfback Mike Blair leading the attack.

“Mike Blair made it really clear when we interviewed him, kicking is a big part of his philosophy, and you just get the sense that it’s his ability to put it on a dime. I think he’s probably one of the best at support lines, as well. He always seems to be in the right place at the right time for the try. He has that running game with his pace off the mark.

“I’d say it’s a surprise to everyone because you wouldn’t say Noah’s played bad, you’d have to say he’s played some of his best footy as the Crusaders went on that run, he was outstanding. You’d have to think he’ll go to South Africa, and he’ll get an opportunity to show his wares in the NPC while he waits for that opportunity.

“Preston now gets a chance to get his foot in the door with a new coaching group and show why they picked him.”

You can catch the full Aotearoa Rugby Pod analysis of the All Blacks squad on RugbyPass TV.