Rennie hails Fainga'anuku as genuine hybrid after injury comeback earns All Blacks recall

All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has backed Leicester Fainga’anuku to make a meaningful contribution on the upcoming Nations Championship tour, confirming the 27-year-old Crusaders utility is fit after recovering from both a leg injury and a concussion that disrupted the back end of his 2026 season.

Fainga’anuku, who holds 12 Test caps, was named in Rennie’s 36-man squad despite limited recent game time. He pulled out of Tasman’s Hilux NPC quarter-final just over three weeks ago with concussion but has since been cleared. His last All Blacks appearance came off the bench during last year’s end-of-year tour match against Wales.

Speaking to media in Auckland on Tuesday, Rennie was candid about the positional question that has followed Fainga’anuku throughout his international career, settling on one word to define him.

“No, no, definitely hybrid,” Rennie said. “I like he’s played a lot of wing for the All Blacks. I think he’s very comfortable at 12, and he’s played a fair bit of seven this year. He could generally fill a number of spots.”

Fainga’anuku started several games for the Crusaders at openside flanker during the Super Rugby Pacific season while retaining the ability to slot into midfield or on the wing, a combination Rennie sees as a genuine squad asset.

“Obviously, we’ve named five locks, six loose-forwards but if you consider Tupou can play loose, and then Leicester can play midfield and wing and that sort of thing, we got a lot of flexibility there,” Rennie said.

Rennie acknowledged the frustration of the past few months for the player but said bringing him into the touring environment was preferable to leaving him behind.

“Came back from injury and then got a concussion with Tasman. But he’s been running really well over the last sort of couple of weeks, and it’ll be great to have him, and he gives us genuine flexibility.”

On the question of game readiness, Rennie was measured. “It’s limited. It’s less than we would have liked, but still think rather than not take him, it’s better to have him in the group for the next four or five weeks. He’s in reasonable nick now. It’s whether he’s game-ready; that is the test. But yeah, he will definitely feature on it.”