All Blacks legend says Dave Rennie has cause for concern following Stormers scare

The All Blacks kicked off the Greatest Rivalry Tour with what can best be described as a shaky victory after their hosts dominated the set piece and defended well to keep the scores locked at 14-all with 15 minutes to go.

Untimely injuries and All Black counter-attacks led to a flurry of late tries, but it was clear that the Stormers had the visitors on notice.

Speaking to Sky Sports NZ, Marshall highlighted the facets of play where Rennie would be concerned ahead of the main course: the four-time world champion Springboks.

"Look at the end of the day, they'll be really worried about how the set piece functioned, and that affects the front row, doesn't it?" said the player-turned-pundit.

"You know, the fact that they went into the game knowing that the Stormers, the URC, they had the best stats out of that competition in maul and scrum, so the All Blacks knew that they would bring that, but yet they still couldn't combat it very well.

"We got on the receiving end of both of those challenges throughout the game, so that'll be a concern for the All Blacks, and that then puts pressure on individuals.

"You know, equally, the aerial game probably not as dominant as what we would have been, and as accurate. So the All Blacks will look at that because they'll know that there's going to be a lot of that coming. Particularly also when you get to the Test matches, and you need to get that area right."

However, it was all doom and gloom from Marshall. He was impressed by the energy injected into the fixture by the bench.

"I thought Josh Jacomb, when he came on, was really mature and had a real impact on the game," he continued.

"Guys like Peter Lakai really fronted up. Fabian Holland, how good was he, having not played a lot of rugby, and equally you can just see the balance of that side and players that hadn't played a lot.

"They hadn't had a lot of minutes, and we spoke about that before the game. So look, kind of a mixed bag in there, but ultimately at the end of the day, they still had to work their way through adversity against a team that was on their heels, coming at them hard."

The All Blacks next face the Sharks in Durban on Tuesday night. 

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