Snooze & you lose
‘Dingo Dave’ Rennie goes with the Wallabies
Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle has revealed the organisation made contact with Dave Rennie six months ago about the possibility of the Kiwi coach taking over at the Wallabies.
Rennie was officially confirmed as head coach for the side yesterday, with his contract taking him through to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
Speaking to Radio Sport’s D’Arcy Waldegrave, Castle said Rugby Australia wanted to be proactive in their recruitment process after Michael Cheika indicated he would not seek another term at the helm if the side did not win this year’s World Cup.
“We needed to make sure we had options, or at least understand what the market was telling us about availability; great coaches don’t hang around waiting for job offers, you have to go looking for them and make sure that you understand what their contract situations are,” Castle said.
“We’d certainly had some conversations with Dave. I’d met with him and then when we [Australia] exited from the Rugby World Cup and Michael said he wasn’t going to step forward, I could continue conversations with Dave.”
For Rennie, timing was everything in deciding his future.
The former Chiefs coach told rugby.com.au there had been interest from NZ Rugby but not until after his mind was all but made up.
“I’m a proud Kiwi but the big thing is I’ve been talking to Australia for a lot of months and the All Blacks interest came in late in the piece and by that stage . . . we were really excited about the opportunity to go to Australia,” he said.
Rennie coached the Chiefs to backto-back titles in his first two years at the helm of the Super Rugby franchise, becoming the first first-year coach to win a title.
After six seasons in charge, Rennie moved on to take the reins with the Glasgow Warriors on a three-year deal. He will honour the remainder of his contract before joining the Wallabies in July.
Rennie will become the second Kiwi to coach the Wallabies, after Robbie Deans from 2008-2013, and admitted his appointment might not be the most popular choice.
“I think Australians want their national team coached by an Australian and I’m okay with that,” he said.
“Hopefully, they’re feeling that way because they care about Aussie rugby and all I can say is everywhere I’ve gone I’ve immersed myself in the community and the culture.
“I guess we’ll be judged by what we do as opposed to what I say now but I can assure you that I care about the future of Australian rugby, going to work really hard to get a strong connection with the Super Rugby coaches and a national age-grade coaches to ensure we’ve got good young talent through and good pathways for them.
“I’ve been coaching professionally for over 20 years and I believe I can make a difference here,” Rennie said.
“There are some outstanding young men coming through the system.” Rennie said a four-hour lunch with Castle had helped convince him she was “driven, keen for change and down-to-earth” as a leader to drive
things with director of rugby Scott Johnson.
England’s skills coach Scott Wisemantel and Scotland’s defence coach Matt Taylor, both Aussies, will be two top candidates when Rennie assembles a revamped coaching and management team around him.
“The first thing is to establish a high quality management and coaching group and it’s important to have a really strong Australian flavour in that group,” Rennie said.
“I want to bring back guys [ from overseas] who can offer a lot.”
Johnson said “Australians will like what Dave Rennie stands for” when calling him a hardworking, humble man with great people skills and big on skills development.
Rennie gave his pitch on what brand of rugby to expect from a Wallabies side which won just 10 of
23 tests across Cheika’s final seasons of 2018-19.
“With the teams I coach, it’s a highskill, high-speed type of game hopefully mixed with some rugby smarts and a bit of brutality,” Rennie said.
“There’s a positive mindset to play mixed with a sharp kicking game.”
Rennie will make a quick trip to Australia in January, when he will meet the country’s four Super Rugby head coaches, but he’ll pull the strings on planning remotely before he shifts to Sydney in June before the July tests against Ireland.
New Zealand Rugby chairman Brent Impey congratulated Rennie on his appointment.
“We have known for some time that Dave was in talks with Rugby Australia, so we have been clear about his position regarding the All Blacks head coach position.”