'We're getting closer': Rennie confident All Blacks will be at full strength for Bok Test
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has been forced to rest several of his first-choice players for the Bulls clash, with the opening Test of the Greatest Rivalry against the Springboks looming.
On Thursday, Rennie named his match-day squad to face the Bulls in Pretoria, and it includes a total of 14 players who took on the Stormers in Cape Town a week ago.
It also features six players from the All Blacks team that trashed the Sharks 54-0 in Durban on Tuesday.
Rennie, however, is still without the services of his first-choice scrumhalf, Cam Roigard, along with Will Jordan and utility back Damian McKenzie.
McKenzie injured his ankle in the Sharks game and left the field in the first half.
Jordan, meanwhile, is yet to feature since arriving in South Africa, while Roigard withdrew from facing the Sharks due to a tight calf.
“With Cam [Roigard], the plan was just to give him maybe 30 minutes off the bench and then he just pulled up a little lame,” Rennie said.
“We’re pretty confident he will be ready for the first Test; he’s played a lot of rugby this year.
“Again, guys like Patrick Tuipulotu and Fabian Holland haven’t had a lot of footy this year, and we think them having a run at altitude will be good for the lungs.
“We’ve got a number of guys who played against the Sharks that are strong contenders for the Test team.”
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Jordan last played for the All Blacks against Ireland in Round Three of the Nations Championship last month.
Rennie previously shared that the try-scoring machine is struggling with a minor back injury.
He expects both Jordan and McKenzie to fully recover, which prompted the decision to keep them out of the Bulls clash.
“We need to get decent training into him [Will Jordan], a decent training week next week.
“The original plan was to play him against the Sharks, and he wasn’t good for that. We thought we would give him game time this week, but he’s not quite right.
“With Damian injuring his ankle, he’s also not available for the Bulls, but we’re expecting him to be okay for the Test.
“Most of our 15 cover comes from 10, so that just reaffirms the importance of bringing someone like Richie [Mo’unga] in.”
Rennie also added that he expects a tough battle against the Bulls, having coached against Johan Ackermann during his Super Rugby days.
It will be his side’s final opportunity to fine-tune their preparations before taking on the Boks, and the coach is positive he’s closer to settling on his best 23.
“We’ve already got a group of guys in mind, but there’s a number of spots where performances this weekend could tilt our thinking.
“The side we’re playing against the Bulls will be quite different to the first Test team.
“I think there are a number of guys against the Bulls who will back up again. It will be nice to have a full seven days in preparation.
“We’re getting closer [to knowing his Test team]; it’s just that there’s a lot of competition for places.
“You look at our wingers; there’s some tough decisions there as well, but that’s what you want. The job of the players playing this week is to apply pressure on us by performance.”
