A 47-17 win over Italy and a new All Blacks try-scoring record for Will Jordan would, in most eras, be filed away as a routine night in Wellington. Two matches into the Dave Rennie era, though, New Zealand's rugby public is watching for something more than points — and its most respected voices cannot agree on whether they are seeing it.
Justin Marshall, the former All Blacks halfback, gave the performance a qualified tick. "A pass mark, obviously, they were able to put 47 points on a very tenacious Italy side," he said. But he refused to pretend the team had moved forward from Rennie's opening win over France in Christchurch.
"Did we improve from Christchurch? And I think categorically no, we did not," Marshall said. "With the greatest respect to Italy, they're 10th in the world. If you're like that against the first or second or third team in the world, then that's not okay."
Marshall's frustration centred on uncharacteristic sloppiness — "a hell of a lot of handling errors and clumsy ones" — yet he was willing to extend patience to a coach rebuilding a playing style. "They are still experimenting with their game plan. They are still finding what they need in terms of combinations. You've got to give some rope," he said.
Jeff Wilson, the ex-All Blacks winger, landed somewhere similar but framed it as inconsistency rather than stagnation. "This was hot and cold for me. They were hot and cold in terms of their performance," Wilson said. He also pushed back on the idea of a straight-line decline: "Yes, we know we weren't good last week, but this was their second week together in preparation."
Wilson was more animated about Rennie's tactical tinkering, backing the decision to shift lock Tupou Vaa'i into the back row as a pointed piece of preparation. "I think it's just a specific tactic to take on South Africa and I like it," he said, before urging Rennie to go further: "We've also got to explore the 6-2 bench at some point as well."
Rennie himself set the bar higher than the scoreboard. "I think we need to be better. We need to be better against Ireland than we were tonight," the head coach said. He took encouragement from the areas his coaching group has targeted. "I'm pleased with the strides we're starting to make defensively," he said, while conceding the attack remains a work in progress: "We're creating a lot. We just got to be better."
His focus has already turned to a smarter opponent. "Against the Irish, they're a very smart defensive side, and so we're going to have to force them to make decisions," Rennie said.
The most striking endorsement came from the opposition. Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada, who spent the night on the wrong end of the result, sounded almost admiring. "I'm worried. This All Blacks team is amazingly coached," he said. "Now you can see that this staff is creating a new energy." Under Rennie, he predicted, New Zealand "will be one of the toughest, biggest contenders to be the best team in the world again."
Ireland, next up, will offer the acid test the pundits are demanding.
