Admittedly, Sam Cane may have only been keeping Richie McCaw's jersey warm while the skipper played at No 8 in the third test against Ireland in Hamilton last month, but the fact remains Cane was the most recent player to wear the famous jersey in an international for New Zealand.
But, on Friday night, Cane will find himself playing from the pine as Rennie has picked Tanerau Latimer to start on the openside of the scrum in their final regular-season game of the Super Rugby campaign when the Chiefs meet the Hurricanes in Wellington.
The Chiefs need to win and pick up a bonus point to ensure they claim top spot on the ladder and afford themselves the luxury of home advantage throughout the playoffs.
Meanwhile, the eighth-placed Hurricanes also need a bonus-point victory and will have to rely other results going their way this weekend so they can sneak into the top six.
Rennie laughed when asked if it felt funny to drop the current All Black No 7 after Cane started in the 28-21 loss to the Crusaders last week.
"We don't look at it like that. In the end, it's horses for courses. Sam got a crack last week and Lats will get a crack this week and it'll help us make the decisions as to who is going to start in the semifinals," Rennie said.
One of the more surprising selections is the switch of Robbie Robinson from fullback to the left wing in place of the in-form Asaeli Tikoirotuma.
The move is part of a backline shuffle that includes Andrew Horrell moving to the No 15 jersey from centre and Lelia Masaga starting on the right wing in place of Tim Nanai-Williams who has moved to the bench.
Robinson is yet to start a game on the flank this year after spending most of his season in the custodian's role or coming off the bench.
Rennie said that it again came down to building further depth in his squad ahead of the playoffs to give him more options.
"Tiks (Tikoirotuma) has probably been our best-performing winger. We are pretty happy with the way he's going so we're going to give him a rest and we're giving other guys an opportunity to push for being in the squad in the semifinal."
Despite making the changes, which also includes a reshuffled front row from last week's side and the return of lock Craig Clarke, Rennie said they weren't taking the Hurricanes lightly.
"It might look that way because we've made a lot of changes but we're creating a bit of an edge as well. We've got guys who are getting an opportunity who are desperate to be out there and are pushing for a place in the semifinals, so we believe through that we're getting a bit of an edge.
Winning this week, probably from a momentum point of view, is important for us. We wouldn't want to lose two games in a row heading into the playoffs. So it's an important game for us and we want to rectify a few things from last week."
The Chiefs have 63 competition points, one ahead of the Stormers who round out their campaign against the lowly Melbourne Rebels in Cape Town on Sunday morning (NZT).
If the Chiefs were to claim a bonus-point victory over the Hurricanes they would earn top spot on the ladder, but if they were to lose they would have to hope the Rebels can pull off an upset.
Chiefs: Andrew Horrell, Lelia Masaga, Jackson Willison, Sonny Bill Williams, Robbie Robinson, Aaron Cruden, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Kane Thompson, Tanerau Latimer, Liam Messam, Brodie Retallick, Craig Clarke (c), Ben Tameifuna, Hika Elliot, Toby Smith. Reserves: Mahonri Schwalger, Sona Taumalolo, Michael Fitzgerald, Sam Cane, Brendon Leonard, Asaeli Tikoirotuma, Tim Nanai-Williams
