Former New Zealand scrum-half Brad Weber believes new head coach Dave Rennie can return the All Blacks to the peak of the sport before he begins his tenure against France in the Nations Championship on Saturday.
Rennie took over from Scott Robertson at the helm of the three-time Rugby World Cup winners in March after seven defeats in Robertson's two years in charge.
The 62-year-old has arrived a little over a year out from the World Cup having had succesful spells with Glasgow, the Kobe Steelers in Japan and the Chiefs, where he worked with Weber for two years.
"If Dave Rennie can't get the All Blacks back to the world's best then no one can," Weber told AFP on Wednesday.
"He's by far the best coach I've ever been lucky enough to be coached by.
"He works bloody hard and watches so much rugby but sees trends in teams.
"I remember going into attack group meetings that he would run and he would show trends in the defence that we were playing against that week and I'd just be like, how the hell have you seen that?
"He's just got out-of-the-box thinking," the 35-year-old added.
'EXTRA 5 PER CENT'
Rennie faces the challenge of Six Nations champions France for his maiden match and the former Australia coach has promised a simple game plan.
"It's definitely tougher because you've only had 10 days of preparation compared to a Super Rugby campaign where you get two months of pre-season to embed a lot of the stuff," Weber said.
"He has this uncanny ability to get that extra five per cent out of you that you didn't know you had so I imagine there'll be a lot of emphasis on that," the 18-time All Black added.
Weber has just finished a season with Mitsubishi Sagamihara Dynaboars, based just to the south of Tokyo, having headed to Japan from Stade Francais in Paris in December.
The former New Zealand under-20s half-back spent almost two season in the French capital coming up against some of the Top 14's leading players like Antoine Dupont, winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey and full-back Thomas Ramos.
Superstar scrum-half Antoine Dupon withdrew from Les Bleus' squad for the Nations Championship due to injury, denying him a first appearance in the southern hemisphere since 2017.
Bielle-Biarrey and Ramos are being rested for the test campaign after a long club campaign.
"The Top 14 is a great competition, but it's not really well set up for the benefit of French rugby," Weber said.
"It's probably two to four weeks too long, and these guys, the best guys, don't get to experience what rugby's like in the southern hemisphere.
"Especially when you've got a World Cup down here next year and Dupont hasn't played here. It's a shame."
Weber last played for the All Blacks in November 2022 with the Hurricanes' Cam Roigard now the man in the No 9 jersey.
Roigard, 25, has made the shirt his own since his debut three years ago and helped his franchise to the Super Rugby Pacific crown last month.
"Dupont's still out and out probably the guy," Weber said. "But Cam's right there challenging him for the world's best, big time."