Sir John Kirwan has claimed that there is no chance of Beauden Barrett moving back to fly-half after Dave Rennie named his squad for the Nations Championship.

The 35-year-old will go down as one of the New Zealand’s greatest-ever players, but he has struggled for form in 2026.

Barrett had a very poor Super Rugby Pacific campaign and, despite being named in the wider All Blacks squad, he found himself down the pecking order in the early stages of the Test campaign.

When handed an opportunity, against the South African franchises on Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour, he also faltered, leading to him missing the majority of the international series against the Springboks.

Moved to full-back after fly-half struggles

However, injuries have opened the door for the playmaker and, having been shifted to full-back by Rennie, he has started to get back to his best.

It started with a try-scoring cameo in the fourth South Africa Test before he started both Bledisloe Cup encounters against the Wallabies.

He particularly impressed at 15 in the second contest, touching down twice, and has been named as an outside back in the squad for the northern leg of the Nations Championship.

That is despite there being an injury cloud over Richie Mo’unga, with Damian McKenzie and the uncapped Josh Jacomb the only other fly-half options.

“Richie Mo’unga’s carrying a bit of an injury but they’re taking him anyway, so that tells you a bit of a sign,” Kirwan told the Rivals podcast.

“Beauden Barrett’s definitely a full-back so we can forget about him at 10, I think Damian is probably the guy they’re talking about [at 10].”

Kirwan also felt that Rieko Ioane’s position was notable with the 29-year-old not among the list of centres, adding: “They’ve named Rieko Ioane as an outside back rather than a centre which I thought was interesting.”

Leicester Fainga’anuku the player to watch

Another fascinating positional decision from Rennie was to list Leicester Fainga’anuku as a loose forward and not among the backs.

Fainga’anuku has spent the majority of his career at centre or wing, but he has become a very good openside flanker in both Super Rugby Pacific and the NPC in 2026.

Asked who his All Blacks player to watch is in the Nations Championship, Kirwan responded: “It’s Leicester Fainga’anuku. The Springboks have been doing it for a little bit but these hybrid players are a real fascination for me.

“Before he got injured he was playing loose forward and he was going exceptionally well so I think he’s going to deliver there.

“I actually want to see him used as that, so I would to see him on tour as a loose forward but I would also love to see him in the outside backs.

“It then also changes the way we can use our bench. We can put him on the bench and have one less back.”