Jason Ryan has put early weight behind Dave Rennie’s All Blacks reset before New Zealand open their Nations Championship campaign against France in Christchurch.
Ryan, retained in the All Blacks staff after Rennie’s arrival, described the new head coach’s early impact as “unbelievable” in comments reported by RugbyPass. The key detail was not praise for its own sake. It was Ryan’s emphasis on clarity: messaging, standards and a sharper definition of who owns each part of the Test week.
Ryan role gives Rennie fast set-piece authority
Ryan’s brief is now centred on the scrum and maul, with Neil Barnes taking a lead on lineout strategy and wider planning. That split matters before France because the first Rennie Test cannot look like a vague cultural launch. It needs set-piece bite immediately.
The All Blacks have spent the week in Christchurch, with Rennie also leaning into the side’s legacy during camp. Ryan said the players had “owned” that work, giving the new regime a cleaner platform before selection becomes the harder conversation.
For France, the warning is obvious. Rennie’s first week has not been sold as a revolution. It has been framed as a tightening of responsibility around a side that still expects to dictate tempo at home.
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