Rennie hails 'outrageous' 85% ruck speed as All Blacks edge France 34-32 in Christchurch

Dave Rennie’s first Test as All Blacks head coach ended in a 34-32 victory over France in Christchurch, with New Zealand edging a nine-try thriller to open their Nations Championship campaign — and the new coach left the ground with a very specific number on his mind.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Rennie wasted little time reaching for the statistics, identifying his side’s ruck speed as the defining feature of the performance. New Zealand won 83% of their rucks within three seconds, a figure the coach called nothing short of extraordinary.

“The lightning-quick ball was almost 85 per cent, which is just outrageous,” Rennie said. “I thought we did a lot of really good things with the ball, but we just needed to play through them a little bit more there. Their big men were tiring, and they were able to play high on the edge, and we made a few errors there.”

The win was far from comfortable. France matched New Zealand’s intensity around the breakdown, operating at only five per cent below the All Blacks’ ruck-speed mark, and the lead changed hands repeatedly throughout a frantic contest. Neither side scored back-to-back points until the 65th minute, when a Ruben Love penalty was followed five minutes later by a Will Jordan try — a sequence that finally gave New Zealand breathing room.

Rennie was candid about the areas that still need work, particularly his side’s ability to slow France’s ball and apply consistent defensive pressure off the line. “We just need more time. More reps. More around combinations,” he said. “We’ve just got to get off the line and apply a lot more pressure, get two in the tackle more often to give them slow ball so we can reset.”

Despite the imperfections, the coach was encouraged by the attitude his squad showed in a new stadium, under a new coaching staff, in a new global competition. “I can’t fault the effort, I love the mindset, we’ve just got to be a lot more accurate,” he added.

New Zealand outscored France five tries to four across the 80 minutes. Rennie acknowledged both teams played with a similar tempo and philosophy — the stats, he noted, were strikingly close across the board — but insisted the All Blacks have the capacity to create significantly more opportunities once the combinations sharpen.