Damian McKenzie and Will Jordan remain stood down by All Blacks

New Zealand continue their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry tour against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but Rennie will once again be without several of his biggest names.

Damian McKenzie has been ruled out after twisting his ankle during Tuesday’s dominant 54-0 victory over the Sharks, while Will Jordan remains unavailable due to a back problem.

However, there is positive news for All Blacks supporters, with Rennie confident the pair are progressing well ahead of next weekend's showdown with the Springboks.

Jordan had initially been scheduled to feature against the Sharks in Durban before his back issue ruled him out.

The All Blacks then considered giving the winger some game time against the Bulls, but Rennie confirmed he is still not quite ready to return.

“The original plan was to play him against the Sharks. When he wasn’t good for that, we thought we’d play him and even give him some game time this week, but he’s not quite right,” Rennie said.

“But he’s definitely better, so we’re reasonably confident.”

McKenzie picked up an ankle injury during the emphatic victory over the Sharks and will sit out Saturday's clash with the Bulls.

Despite that setback, Rennie expects the 31-year-old to be available for the first Test against South Africa.

“Even with Damian injuring an ankle … we’re expecting him to be OK for the Test.”

The injury also played a role in Richie Mo’unga being called into the All Blacks squad on Thursday.

“Most of our 15 cover comes from 10, so that just reaffirmed the importance of bringing someone like Richie in,” Rennie added.

Rennie also delivered a positive update on scrum-half Cam Roigard, who had originally been expected to get around 30 minutes from the bench against the Bulls.

A minor injury has changed those plans, but the All Blacks boss expects Roigard to be fit for the Springboks.

“Obviously, with Cam Roigard, the plan was just to give him maybe 30 minutes off the bench and then he just pulled up a little lame.

“We’re pretty confident he’ll be right for the first Test and he’s played a lot of rugby this year.”