Barrett and Holland reunion gives All Blacks second-row clarity ahead of World Cup

Scott Barrett and Fabian Holland gave the All Blacks’ coaching staff exactly what they needed in Sydney, combining for a dominant second-row display in the second Bledisloe Test and offering New Zealand genuine optimism heading into the final stretch before the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

Both locks had missed the entire 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season through injury — Holland undergoing shoulder reconstruction after a pre-season incident, Barrett managing back trouble as he returned from a non-playing sabbatical in May. Their reunion in Sydney was the first time the pair had started together in the engine room this year, and forwards coach Jason Ryan was unequivocal in his assessment.

“I think you’d probably say that starting front row and the two locks, with Scott Barrett back in and Fabian Holland, was massive for us yesterday,” Ryan told Newstalk ZB on Sunday. “Fabian was huge, and he’s had a bit of a mixed season. He had a big injury and didn’t play Super Rugby at all. A little bit of shoulder reconstruction and a bit of work there. He’s coming back into his work. We know what he’s capable of. It takes time to get your confidence right and come back and get right into Test footy, but I think last night he was like, ‘yeah, I’ll take this, thanks’. And he did.”

For Barrett, the return carried an emotional weight that Ryan noticed immediately. “I actually said to him when he ran out at Eden Park, he just had this massive smile on his face, and it was like he said, ‘it was almost like my first game’,” Ryan recalled. “There’s a bit of relief in the role that he’s got, I guess, which is natural. And he does know now that his body is genuinely right.”

With the World Cup less than 12 months away, Ryan acknowledged the timing is significant. New Zealand were unable to take Barrett to South Africa during the recent tour, but the coach is encouraged by what lies ahead. “We’ve still got them another couple of times yet, and potentially next year at the World Cup. So, yeah, it’s great.”

The satisfaction extended beyond the second row. New Zealand’s scrum operated at 100 per cent across the two-Test Bledisloe series, with Ethan de Groot and Codie Taylor providing consistency at loosehead and hooker when fit, and Fletcher Newell and Tyrel Lomax sharing tighthead duties. Ryan noted the forward pack is developing cohesion that the coaching staff are keen to protect.

“Those boys, they’ve learned a bit in the last wee while, to be fair, and I think that they are connecting with each other really well and scrummaging well as a unit,” he said. “But we’ve got to make sure that if we do bring them on, we’ve got that balance of our game right.”

With Barrett’s fitness now confirmed and Holland rebuilding his form and confidence, New Zealand’s most persistent selection problem of 2026 appears to be moving toward a resolution at precisely the right moment.