The collective strength of Kiwi Super Rugby sides will serve the All Blacks' quest for a third straight Rugby World Cup, according to former Chiefs coach Dave Rennie.
With the 2019 World Cup now less than a year away, the All Blacks are in contention to become the first team to win three straight titles, having lifted the William Webb Ellis cup in 2011 and 2015.
Now working in Scotland with Premiership side Glasgow Warriors, Rennie says that the structure of Super Rugby means that the All Blacks will enter the tournament in better stead than that of their European foes.
"I think the edge that the All Blacks probably have on most teams is that they have five Super Rugby sides that are all well conditioned and play a very similar brand of rugby and the All Blacks get to pick the cream of the crop out of that," Rennie said.
The double-Super Rugby winning coach also hit out at the structure of European rugby - most notably England - whose model of private ownership at club level leaves players' loyalty split across multiple fronts, compared to the singular model that the All Blacks have in place.
"With the fact that English sides have private ownership and so on, maybe the focus isn't initially on the national side," he said.
"Their challenge is to pick the best out of that group, working really closely to get the best out of the players and taking them to the World Cup. Yeah there are some challenges there for them."
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