All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and the Webb Ellis Cup.
All Blacks boss Dave Rennie has revealed his frustration at the Rugby World Cup draw, which will likely see a quarter-final between the top two ranked sides.
New Zealand are scheduled to play the back-to-back world champions in the last-eight despite World Rugby moving the draw to a later date.
There was controversy in 2023 when the majority of the top-ranked teams were in Pools A and B, which resulted in South Africa facing France and New Zealand taking on Ireland in the quarter-finals.
Change in World Cup format
The global governing body decided to expand the competition for 2027 and change the format, but that has resulted in another controversy with the All Blacks and Springboks potentially going head-to-head early on.
Rennie addressed the matter in his press conference ahead of the second Bledisloe Cup clash this weekend.
Australia meet New Zealand in Sydney on Saturday in a precursor to the World Cup encounter at the same venue next year, a match-up which will have a big bearing on the outcome of the tournament.
“It will be nil-all at full-time [in the World Cup next year],” Rennie quipped at Thursday’s press conference.
“It just highlights the crazy draw. You look at the football World Cup and the top-four ranked sides in the world played each other in the semis and it seems hard to believe you’ve got us pitted against South Africa potentially in a quarter-final, and the winner of that plays France.
“It is what it is now and it’s probably similar to the World Cup before. To win a title you’ve got to beat them all anyway, so that’s the path in front of us.”
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Although the trans-Tasman rivals will face-off at the global tournament, it is not something that has concerned Rennie during the 2026 Bledisloe Cup.
The All Blacks boss only took over in March following the sacking of Scott Robertson and is focused on putting the foundations in place ahead of World Cup year.
No World Cup ‘bragging rights’
“We haven’t really been talking about the World Cup,” he added.
“Look, there’s no doubt we had a good edge about us last week. We came off three losses, back at home, obviously playing at Eden where we hadn’t lost since ’94 and the Bledisloe which we hadn’t lost for 20-odd years.
“There was a lot of expectation. We used that, we didn’t shy away from it, we talked about it and we wanted to add to the legacy last week.
“We had to make sure that the Bledisloe was secure and so was the record at Eden Park, but we’ve got to make sure that we do justice to the jersey. We’ve put a lot of time into making sure that the mindset’s right.
“As far as bragging rights for the World Cup, it’s so far away that by the time we get to play in pool play, it will just be about who’s the best on the day.”