A series lost, a verdict withheld
New Zealand won the opening Test in Johannesburg and then lost three in a row. A 3-1 series defeat to South Africa normally starts a conversation about the head coach. Sir John Kirwan wants that conversation shut down before it gathers pace.
Kirwan fielded the question directly on the Rivals podcast, asked whether another reversal could make New Zealand Rugby regret replacing Scott Robertson with Dave Rennie.
“Everyone, including the players, are happy. There’s a direction in the team that we all believe in. I think the general public believe in Dave Rennie, I think the players believe in Dave Rennie,” he said.
He pinned the losses on experience rather than coaching. “I don’t think it was a coaching issue. The amazing thing about that South African side if you look at it, they’ve been in situations like on Saturday for the past three or four years as a team and they know how to deal with that pressure. A couple of our guys have made mistakes under that pressure which they’ll learn from.”
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Seven Tests in, the second row still moves
Rennie took over from Robertson in March and has now coached seven Tests. Kirwan’s practical complaint targets selection, not method.
“For me, New Zealand has to sort out their second-row. I think we need a locking combo,” he said. “Great sides have combinations, their nine and 10, their four and five, and amazing loose forwards. What we need to do is settle on a couple of locks that are going to lock us through the next 12 months, injury or illness aside.”
He named the pair he would pick and leave alone: Josh Lord and Fabian Holland. Kirwan wants a settled matchday 23 identified across the Bledisloe Cup and the November window rather than after it.
The support carries a condition
Kirwan attached a deadline of sorts to his backing. “We need to keep winning for the pressure to go away and for Dave to stay relaxed in his job,” he said.
Australia come next in the Bledisloe Cup. After that New Zealand travel north for the Nations Championship leg against Wales, Scotland and England. Four fixtures, and a coaching group that has just watched three narrow defeats stack up.
Kirwan reads the wider picture more warmly than the scoreline does. “If both teams can play with that intensity, around the world, even in Europe, they’re saying they’re the two best teams in the world.” That assessment survives one more defeat. It may not survive two.
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