All Blacks Face French Fire in Rennie's Tumultuous Debut
New coach Dave Rennie leads a fractured All Blacks into their 2026 Nations Championship opener against France, with fly-half selection a looming question and World Cup implications already in play.
New Zealand's All Blacks open their 2026 Nations Championship campaign this Saturday in Wellington against France, navigating a turbulent period marked by a recent coaching overhaul and a pressing fly-half selection dilemma. The highly anticipated fixture introduces Dave Rennie as the All Blacks' new head coach, a role he assumed after Scott Robertson's dismissal in January. Rennie and his freshly assembled staff inherit a squad still grappling with the fallout from a humiliating defeat to South Africa, a performance that exposed significant cracks and underscored the urgent need for a strategic reset.
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