Codie Taylor says new All Blacks coaches are demanding significantly higher fitness standards

Codie Taylor has confirmed that new All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has made fitness a non-negotiable requirement for selection, with the 35-year-old hooker saying conversations with the new coaching staff have left players in no doubt about the physical standards expected.

“By the sounds of it, what I’ve gathered from the small conversations I’ve had with the All Blacks coaches is that they want us to be a lot fitter,” Taylor told Sport Nation’s Millsy and Guy. “I assume that’s just the brand of rugby they want to play.”

Since being appointed head coach, Rennie has publicly outlined his desire to reinvigorate the All Blacks’ counter-attacking game, identified work rate as a key selection criterion, and stressed breakdown physicality as a must for his forwards. Taylor’s comments suggest those priorities are already filtering through to the playing group.

The veteran Crusaders hooker, one of just two surviving members of New Zealand’s 2015 Rugby World Cup-winning squad, is no stranger to the conditioning demands of Test rugby. Having debuted for the All Blacks 11 years ago, Taylor says peak fitness is not something that can be banked in preseason and left alone.

“It’s not something you can just do in preseason and expect it to stay the same,” he said. “I’m a firm believer that you should put in a bit of hard work each week to get those fitness levels up.”

With Rennie and his staff having just 12 days between naming their first squad of the year and playing the opening Test, there will be little time to build fitness from scratch. Taylor anticipates the initial camp will strike a balance between hard work and recovery after a demanding Super Rugby Pacific season.

“That calendar rolls around pretty quickly, so it’ll be an interesting one to balance out,” he said.

Beyond the fitness conversation, Taylor is also setting himself a specific technical target for 2026. Now in his 13th season with the Crusaders, he says he is focused on developing his ball-carrying ability — a skill that has defined fellow All Blacks hookers Asafo Aumua of the Hurricanes and Samisoni Taukei’aho of the Chiefs, as well as celebrated predecessors Kevin Mealamu and Dane Coles.