Nations Championship: The lessons from the first round and how the All Blacks stacked up
Tuesday, 7 July 2026
ANALYSIS: The Nations Championship started with a bang in round one as the All Blacks beat France 34-32 in Christchurch.
The new tournament and the beginning of Dave Rennie’s tenure produced no shortage of talking points, and here are the key topics that emerged from the first weekend of action.
Rugby did a very good thing
The Nations Championship has its critics, but it delivered the goods in round one. The quality of the rugby was exceptional, it produced an upset of sorts as Japan beat Italy, and it brought greater context to the July tests. Of course, each test still has meaning in its own right, but there is now far greater motivation for the rugby punter to look beyond the All Blacks and take an interest in Argentina v Scotland, for example. Say it quietly, but the Nations Championship is a far better format for finding out the world’s best side than the Rugby World Cup, which is a bit of a lottery as far as the draw is concerned.
Read more:
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Listen to the All Blacks coach
The reaction to the All Blacks’ win over France was cathartic after the unhappy end to Scott Robertson’s time in charge. But, fans would be well advised to listen to All Blacks coach Dave Rennie, who wasn’t getting carried away with the first-up effort. “Lightning quick ball, almost 85% which is just outrageous, so I thought we did a lot of really good things with the ball but we just needed to play through them,” Rennie said. “Their big men were tired and were able to play high on the edge, and we made a few errors there. Can't fault the effort, I loved the mindset. We just have to be a lot more accurate.” The French were also missing their entire starting pack from their most recent Six Nations test, plus Antoine Dupont and Louis Bielle-Biarrey, the world’s best winger.
Where the All Blacks’ performance rated
There were certainly more positives than negatives in Christchurch, particularly in how No 10 Ruben Love overcame a nightmare start and forwards Ethan de Groot, Sam Darry and Luke Jacobson stepped up. A repeat viewing of the test also showed how well Hurricanes prop Xavier Numia played on debut off the bench - strong at scrum time and with ball in hand. But the best attacking performance of the weekend came from Scotland, who put 47 points on Argentina in Cordoba without No 10 Finn Russell. Kilted Kiwis Tom Jordan and Fergus Burke ran the show brilliantly for Scotland, whose captain Sione Tuipulotu might be the world’s best No 12.
Boks still rule the air - and the gainline
In Johannesburg, the Springboks beat England 45-21 with a preview of what the All Blacks can expect next month: aerial excellence and forward might. Fullback Damian Willemse was superb under the high ball, halfback Grant Williams was on the money with his box kicks and the Springboks’ big men had no issues getting across the gainline. The Springboks will remain the team to beat in world rugby until someone finds the answer to that formula.
Schmidt hits the wall
The Wallabies’ 33-31 loss to Ireland was their fifth defeat in succession, and they have won only two from their previous 10 tests. Joe Schmidt worked wonders to make the Wallabies highly competitive against the British and Lions last year, but it has been hard work since then. The Wallabies appear to be lacking self-belief at crucial moments and if they lose against France in Brisbane on Saturday it will highlight the size of the task awaiting Les Kiss, who will replace Schmidt at the end of July.