Why the Wallabies want Rennie
Probable new Wallabies coach Dave Rennie’s most important job besides winning the 2023 World Cup will be building relationships throughout every level in Australian rugby.
The two-time Super Rugby title-winning New Zealander is set to be given the nod over Australian Eddie Jones, who remains under contract with England and could look to link up with Fiji for the next World Cup cycle.
A high-ranking Australian rugby source said Rugby Australia director of rugby Scott Johnson told Wallabies staff as much after the side’s quarterfinal loss to England on Saturday.
Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle insisted an appointment had not been made, but it seems all roads lead to Rennie.
The Glasgow coach is under contract with the Warriors until August but could feasibly be back to lead the Wallabies into the 2020 Rugby Championship.
Johnson and Castle will place a high priority on the next Wallabies coach building strong relationships with the Super Rugby sides, junior pathways and premier clubs in Sydney and Brisbane, to help build on the high-performance overhaul under way at RA.
It is this part of the brief that will get Rennie over the line over Jones who, while popular among the England squad, does not have a strong track record with the Premiership clubs or even with his superiors within the RFU.
But, while Rennie remains the pick, with a potential assistants roll call of Scott Wisemantel (attack), Nick Stiles (forwards) and Matt Taylor (defence), Castle and Johnson are likely to face calls to bring Jones home for a second crack at coaching Australia. It is easy to understand why. The 59-year-old is taking England into a World Cup semifinal after orchestrating a seventh straight victory over the side he coached 15 years ago.
His win rate with them is 79 per cent after five years in charge. That’s 38 wins from 48 tests in charge. The only test coach who can better him is All
Blacks mentor Steve Hansen, whose win rate is at almost 88 per cent.
Jones, who led the Brumbies to a Super Rugby title in 2001, has been around the block any number of times. A stint with the Wallabies, who he guided to the 2003 World Cup final, was just the start of his international career. He coached professionally in England (Saracens) and Japan (Suntory) and was widely credited with being the ‘secret sauce’ in Jake White’s World Cup-winning Springboks set-up in 2007.
His road back to the top started with the Brave Blossoms, the Japan test side he coached to a watershed win over South
Africa in the 2015 World Cup.
That upset, four years in the making, was the clincher for the England job. Jones took over from Stuart Lancaster when England were at a low ebb, having bombed out in the group stages of a home World Cup.
He is experienced, organised, detailed and uncompromising. He would restore to Australia a level of tactical guile that they did not have under Cheika.
Whether Australia is ready for Jones V.2.0 is another matter. He has a ferocious work ethic that has seen a high turnover in all of his coaching setups. He would demand high standards of all around him, including inside Rugby Australia.
He would also have to get used to operating in a landscape with some fiscal restraints. The RFU is the richest national union in the world and Jones has enjoyed carte blanche on the resourcing front. Australia will be a comedown on that front.
On the other side is Rennie who, while considered tough and no nonsense, does not appear to have the same ‘scorched earth’ record with his previous employers.
The Wallabies would be his first test coaching role. Rennie won back-to-back Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs and was the first rookie coach to win when they won in 2012. He enjoyed success with the New Zealand under20s, a stint that will be looked upon favourably by RA.
From the Chiefs he went to Glasgow, where he has taken the side to a semi-final and final of the Pro 14 (called the Pro 12 in 2017-18), and the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup.
Rennie’s experience working with a team as multicultural as the Chiefs is also a factor in his favour. The Wallabies have a
large number of players either from Pacific Islands nations or with that heritage.
Cheika was a strong force for modernising the identity and cultural practices within the Wallabies, giving all players and groups a voice. Rennie appears to be the man to pick up that ball and run with it, to the 2023 World Cup and beyond.
‘‘Rennie’s experience working with a team as multicultural as the Chiefs is also a factor in his favour.’’