Sir John Kirwan believes that November will be the final month of All Blacks experimentation before Dave Rennie starts to whittle down his options.

The 62-year-old took over in March after Scott Robertson’s departure and only has a short time to get them ready for the Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Rennie has tried a number of different players and combinations since his first Test in charge in July and they have demonstrated plenty of improvement since that France match.

Their only defeats so far have come against the back-to-back world champion Springboks, who claimed a 3-1 series triumph in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.

New Zealand will be looking to make it six successive victories in the Nations Championship having won all three of their games during the mid-year internationals.

Over 50 players used

While results are important, building depth is arguably more essential for the All Blacks, who have used over 50 players so far in 2026.

Part of that is down to injuries, with the absentee list rather lengthy at the moment, but there has also been a desire by Rennie to trial different options.

That has perhaps been shown by his selection at lock for the northern tour after Jamie Hannah got in ahead of Sam Darry and Patrick Tuipulotu.

Hannah, who made his Test debut against Les Bleus in July, has been behind Darry and Tuipulotu throughout 2026, but he has been selected in the 36 ahead of the November games.

“That’s probably the most interesting one for me, both Sam and Patrick would be disappointed because they went to South Africa and they actually played a part in the Test matches,” Kirwan said on the Rivals podcast.

“What they’re saying about Hannah is he plays six so I don’t know if they’re looking for someone to play six.

“I do think that this is the last opportunity, although Dave Rennie has said he is settled on what he wants to do.

“For me, I didn’t think there were too many surprises, lock was the only real surprise for me.”

All Blacks back three selection

Kirwan was also asked about his former position in the back three after Chay Fihaki was selected ahead of the likes of Emoni Narawa.

“Emoni has been on the fringes and you’re also taking Leicester Fainga’anuku as an outside back and loose forward, that’s probably the biggest talking point. What they’ve seen from Chay is enough, I think they think he’s got a little bit of X-factor,” he said.

“I know Emoni was good but I think what they will do is have five weeks and then this will be the decision moving forward.

“We’ve been talking about some of these fringe guys and, when you’re looking for a fringe guy, you’re also looking for attitude, someone who’s going to work hard regardless of getting in the squad.

“They’re probably not starters, they’re the guys that you need to be toeing the line from a team point of view.”