Former All Blacks fly-half Stephen Donald believes the presence of Leicester Fainga’anuku gives Dave Rennie a variety of options in the Nations Championship.

After missing the July games and Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, the 27-year-old has been named in the squad for the November matches.

New Zealand will therefore get to finally test out their hybrid player with Fainga’anuku capable of playing in the forwards and the backs.

He has played the majority of his career at either centre or wing but started a number of games at openside flanker in Super Rugby Pacific earlier this year.

Plenty of options for Dave Rennie

While a starting All Blacks spot might be a stretch, especially for the Scotland and England games, having him on the bench gives Rennie plenty of versatility.

That effectively allows him to have both a 5-3 and 6-2 with Fainga’anuku able to slot in either up front or behind the scrum depending on what that specific contest requires.

It is luxury the Springboks have created by developing Andre Esterhuizen into a hybrid and their arch-rivals are now set to follow suit.

“I will be fascinated to see whether that technically changes the scarcity of how many they put from a backs point of view on the bench,” Donald said on The Aftermatch with Kirst and Beav.

“You wouldn’t burn a back reserve that covers the same thing Leicester does so there will be two loosies which gives them great freedom of the speed of game and the ability to play someone like a Tupou Vaa’i at lock.

“You would obviously have a half-back, a Leicester – what doesn’t Leicester cover? You would maybe have a Josh Jacomb because we’re now imagining that both Beaudy (Beauden Barrett) and Damian (McKenzie) will be starting.

“It does give them freedom. It gives them real freedom up front to have more impact in those ball-carrying loose forward positions.”

Rennie will name his All Blacks team for the first Test of the northern leg of the Nation Championship next week.

It is expected that Fainga’anuku will feature given the versatility he offers, but it will be interesting to see who joins him in the 23.

Bench selection and New Zealand’s unluckiest player

There is space for another lock on the bench even if Tupou Vaa’i starts as the Crusaders star could act as a second loose forward.

They could even go for two back-rowers out-and-out which, if Fainga’anuku were to come on at openside, would give them a whole reserve loose trio among the replacements.

There are five other back-row options in the wider training squad – six if you include Vaa’i – for Rennie to select from.

One player who didn’t make it, though, was Du’Plessis Kirifi, who continues to be one of the most unfortunate players in New Zealand.

He featured against the Wallabies in the second Bledisloe Cup Test, but was not picked for the Nations Championship following Anton Segner’s and Fainga’anuku’s return from injury.

“When you talk about Du’Plessis Kirifi missing out, I think his head-to-head battle was with Segner. Leicester was always going on this tour, I can’t imagine that was ever in doubt, it was just a matter of him getting more and more time under his belt,” Donald added.

“It wouldn’t have mattered where they put his name on that teamsheet.”