Rennie arrival marks start of a new era
A new era in Australian rugby began yesterday with the arrival of new Wallabies coach Dave Rennie.
Taking advantage of a two-week break in the European Champions Cup, in which he is still coaching the Glasgow Warriors, Rennie was to arrive in Sydney for a 10-day meet-and-greet tour of his new domain.
He will help launch the new season of Super Rugby in Sydney on Thursday and tour the four professional franchises before flying back to Scotland on January 30.
First up, however, is a day at head office, with today devoted to meeting Rugby Australia staff and lunch with the RA heads of department, including his two bosses, chief executive Raelene Castle and director of rugby Scott Johnson.
Tomorrow, Rennie will spend the day with the Waratahs at Daceyville, where he will meet, among others, incumbent Wallabies captain Michael Hooper and test regulars Kurtley Beale, Rob Simmons, Tom Robertson, Jack Dempsey, Ned Hanigan and Harry Johnson Holmes.
He will also meet the generation he might be most interested in: the large number of Junior Wallabies and young players now in their first season with the Waratahs’ senior squad – electric outside back Mark Nawaqanitawase, five-eighth Will Harrison, halfback Michael McDonald, flanker Carlo Tizzano and prop Angus Bell, among others.
On Thursday he will meet the under-20s coaches responsible for bringing through those youngsters, Adrian Thompson and Jason Gilmore, before suiting up for his first public appearance as the Australian coach at the official Super Rugby launch.
The next day Rennie will sit down with his Wallabies staff, including new appointments Matt Taylor (defence) and Scott Wisemantel (attack).
He will presumably also work on the recruitment of his forwards coach, who is expected to be an Australian with Nick Stiles in the mix.
He will fly to Melbourne on Sunday afternoon and spend next Monday with the Rebels, Tuesday in Canberra with the Brumbies and on Wednesday will fly to Brisbane to spend most of Thursday with the Reds, before flying back to the UK that evening.
The two-time Super Rugby title-winning coach has been in Glasgow since the 2017-18 season. He spent six seasons in charge of the Chiefs in Super Rugby, leading them to titles in 2012 and 2013. He also spent a successful three years in charge of the New Zealand under-20s during which time the Junior All Blacks won three world titles.