With McKenzie picking up an ankle injury and Mo'unga now in camp, Israel Dagg is urging Rennie not to shuffle Ruben Love out of the 10 jersey to solve the full-back puzzle. Dagg's argument is straightforward: Love has been pushed around positionally for years, he's earned the starting role at fly-half, and New Zealand has enough cover at 15 — including Will Jordan and, if needed, Mo'unga or even Barrett — to avoid disrupting their best playmaker. Co-host Scotty Stevenson frames it as a cautionary tale: Barrett's career was blunted by years of shuttling between 10 and 15, and the same utility-player logic risks stunting Love's development if Rennie isn't disciplined about it. The broader point both make is that the All Blacks are actually well-stocked at 10 — Love, Barrett, Mo'unga, Jacomb, and even the Carter parallel gets dusted off — so there's no crisis, just a temptation to over-engineer a selection that doesn't need it.
Don't move Love from 10 — Dagg's message to Rennie ahead of Bok series
Israel Dagg is calling on Rennie to keep Ruben Love at 10 regardless of McKenzie's fitness, warning that shuffling him to full-back would repeat the positional instability that hampered Barrett's career.
Jake White: Henry's All Blacks return is a 'masterстroke' — and he's no ordinary selector
White calls Henry's return a masterstroke — not because of his selector credentials, but because of the psychological and cultural weight he brings to a rebuilding All Blacks camp. White also makes a pointed broader argument about the game's failure to learn from history, using his own 2007 World Cup experience as a case study.
Keo & Zels: Stubborn All Blacks policy make Boks smile
The boys love that New Zealand keep picking their second-best, long may it continue.
Barrett ruled out of South Africa tour with back injury requiring surgery
Scott Barrett faces back surgery and is ruled out for up to five months, missing the four-Test series against the Springboks in August and September as well as the July Nations Championship Tests — with his All Blacks captaincy already under question ahead of Dave Rennie's first squad announcement.
Junior Boks take World Cup confidence from NZ dogfight
Foote and Norton reflect on what a grinding draw against New Zealand reveals about where the Junior Boks are — and what still needs fixing — ahead of their World Cup title defence in Georgia.
Hooker targeting All Blacks opener after shoulder surgery, July Tests ruled out
Ethan Hooker is targeting the opening All Blacks Test in The Greatest Rivalry series after shoulder surgery, with the 23-year-old ruled out of all July Tests against England, Scotland and Wales.