Ruben Love handed first All Blacks No.10 start as Rennie builds attack around new era playmaker

Ruben Love will wear the All Blacks No.10 jersey for the first time as a starter, head coach Dave Rennie confirmed, ending a seven-year stretch in which Richie Mo’unga, Beauden Barrett and Damian McKenzie shared the role. The 25-year-old Hurricanes fly-half earns the nod on the back of a title-winning Super Rugby campaign in which his side averaged over 40 points per game.

Love becomes the first genuinely new face at first five for New Zealand since Mo’unga displaced Barrett ahead of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Barrett debuted in 2012, McKenzie in 2017, Mo’unga in 2018 — and for two World Cup cycles, no challenger emerged to seriously threaten the trio. Love has changed that calculus emphatically.

“He’s outstanding,” Rennie said. “So I’m sure there won’t be too many arguments about our selection.”

The consensus within the squad appeared equally clear. McKenzie was considered the nearest rival for the shirt, but after a dominant Hurricanes playoff run, the decision was straightforward. Love will also be flanked by Hurricanes teammates, a detail Rennie sees as a deliberate comfort factor.

“He sits in amongst Cam and Jordie, which will give him a lot of comfort and a lot of combination and communication,” the head coach said.

Love’s selection is inseparable from the broader attacking identity Rennie is installing. The new head coach has spoken openly about wanting the All Blacks to play with what he calls optimism — a mindset built around finding ways to score from anywhere on the field, including their own five-metre line if the picture is right.

“I think playing with optimism is a mindset around ‘how do you score from here?’” Rennie explained. “If the opposition spill a ball or we get an advantage five metres from our line, we’re thinking: how do we score from here? But optimism is also around your work ethic — if we’re optimistic, we’ll get people back and into position quickly, so you can play.”

Rennie acknowledged the side has had only a week and a half together in camp but stressed that the coaching staff spent three months preparing before the squad assembled. He described training as encouraging.

“The training today was excellent — lots of energy and excitement. We want them to express themselves. It’s test match footy, we understand that. So there are going to be times where we have to get into an arm wrestle, but we want to play with optimism.”

Love’s ability to make fast decisions at pace — honed across a Super Rugby season that saw the Hurricanes run the competition’s most prolific attack — makes him the natural carrier of that philosophy. The match against France will be his first real examination of whether that form translates to the test arena.