All Blacks v France: Luke Jacobson surprise pick at openside shows Dave Rennie’s priorities – Gregor Paul

All Blacks v France, Saturday, 7.05pm

Listen to live commentary on Newstalk ZB Sport and iHeartRadio

There is, perhaps, an in-house irony that by being picked at openside for the first test of 2026 Luke Jacobson blindsided the nation.

Of all the loose forward combinations available to Rennie for the opening game against France, no one imagined he would pick the one he did.

The inclusion of Jacobson was surprise number one.

The Super Rugby Pacific form trio in the eyes of the media had been Peter Lakai, Anton Segner and Wallace Sititi.Those three were seen to be competing for two places, as one of the three slots was reserved for captain Ardie Savea.

If Rennie and his selectors were to look outside those four, the most likely candidate touted was Simon Parker – the largest athlete of the six loose forwards in the 34-man squad, offering a significant point of difference given his body shape.

Jacobson was widely perceived to be the sixth man – a contentious pick, even, as there was a significant lobby of armchair analysts and media commentators who felt that the Hurricanes captain Du Plessis Kirifi had the better claim for inclusion given his form, impact and leadership with the Super Rugby Pacific champions.

There is no doubt Jacobson had a good campaign with the Chiefs, maybe his best in years. He picked off critical turnovers, damaged a few opposition ball carriers with his famed “concrete shoulders” and seemed to cover more ground than in previous seasons.

But he’s a player battling a number of perceptions that will be hard for him to shift.

He’s been in and around the All Blacks since 2019, after being the last player to lead New Zealand to glory at the Under-20 World Cup, without ever making his case to say he belongs there.

He’s been picked by four different All Blacks coaches – Sir Steve Hansen, Ian Foster, Scott Robertson and Rennie – but none of the first three saw him as a regular starter.

Mostly, his fate was cast by the endless run of cruel injuries he suffered but the public tends not to get wrapped up in the weeds of a personal story and judgment is made without due reference to the nuance of circumstance.

The other perception Jacobson is battling is that his game is built on presence and toughness – admirable qualities indeed but hard to sell to an audience that is looking for overt athleticism, speed, agility and X-factor.

But while graft isn’t sexy, it’s obviously deemed valuable by Rennie who doesn’t see it merely as a table-stakes offering that every loose forward should possess.

“It sounds like some people got excited about the change,” Rennie said when he was asked about Jacobson’s selection.

“We like Luke. Luke is tough. He’ll have a real physical presence against the French and we think that’s really important.”

What Rennie presumably specifically likes about Jacobson is his data set, as the All Blacks coach has long had a Moneyball approach to selection where he has drilled deep into the statistics to see who really does what on the field.

He’s never been led exclusively by the numbers, but he did come into the All Blacks job with a precise vision of the game he wants his team to play, the type of athlete they need to do it and, therefore, the exact skill sets required for each position.

This is a world in which everything and anything can be measured – how long players take to get back to their feet, tackle volume and intensity, turnovers won, time taken to arrive at a ruck – and Jacobson’s Super numbers must score highly in the precise actions Rennie is logging for loose forwards.

But surprise number two in relation to Jacobson’s selection was bigger – he is playing openside.

Rennie and forwards coach Neil Barnes subscribe to the view that while there are three loose forward positions, they have effectively morphed into one other than some variations in task around scrummaging.

Hence, he says he’s ambivalent about what numbers his loose trio wears. This may well be a valid take on the fluid nature of test rugby where the breakdown is the key battleground, and everyone has to be able to compete for the ball on the ground.

But the coaching take doesn’t align with the public sense that for all that the game has changed enormously in the past 10 years, there remain certain expectations about the All Blacks No 7 jersey as it has a rich legacy of its own.

The New Zealand public has seen some of the greatest players in history play openside for the All Blacks and it’s deemed to be an all-action role for a supreme athlete capable of X-factor deeds.

No matter how the game changes, the default expectation in New Zealand is that the All Blacks No 7 will be a bloodhound – on the ball in a split second if there is a sniff of a turnover opportunity, and willing and able to track possession for miles on end.

Jacobson doesn’t strike as that sort of player – Savea and Lakai do – but he says he’s going to bring something different to the job.

“There’s plenty of other aspects that go to a No 7 as well,” Jacobson said about whether he’ll operate as an old-fashioned fetcher.

“I think where my game is is around the collision, trying to impact that. It’s being around the ball, hunting out that when the opportunity is right, but it’s not selling out the rest of your game just to try and get turnovers.

“So I’ll play my game. I’ve been picked for a reason and I’ll keep it at that.”

Rennie is breaking the mould by selecting Jacobson at openside, attempting to rescope the role of the All Blacks No 7 and facilitate a game plan that he says will bring a brutal approach to their breakdown work.

It’s arguably the one genuine surprise of his first team selection and the one that will be most keenly observed in Christchurch.

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.