Three wins from three under Dave Rennie, capped by a 40-21 dismantling of Ireland in Auckland, have New Zealand looking sharper and more cohesive than they did through the Robertson era. Rennie's side are playing a high-tempo, ball-in-hand game with growing confidence, and he's adding physicality up front with the Springbok series clearly in mind. The piece tracks the early momentum: Will Jordan is now New Zealand's all-time leading test try-scorer with six tries in three matches, and Ruben Love has displaced Beauden Barrett at 10 — a call that Damian McKenzie describes as seamless. Rennie himself is measured in his optimism; he's flagging the Boks as a fundamentally different challenge and framing the four-test tour — starting against the Stormers on August 7 and finishing in Baltimore on September 12 — as a learning exercise regardless of results. The broader subtext is whether this early-tenure polish can hold up once the physicality and pressure of a Springbok series arrives.