Kearns: Rennie the only option

Outspoken commentator and former Wallaby Phil Kearns believes Rugby Australia (RA) had little choice but to appoint Dave Rennie as the new Wallabies coach because of a dearth of quality Australian candidates.

The former Chiefs coach was confirmed as Michael Cheika’s successor last week on a four-year deal through to the 2023 World Cup.

Rennie, 56, has long been earmarked for the Wallabies job and he will be Australia’s second Kiwi coach after Robbie Deans.

Kearns, who played 67 tests for the Wallabies before becoming a regular rugby commentator, pointed out the lack of Australian options available to replace Cheika, while indicating that hiring Rennie was a concession RA had to make, one he could never envisage New Zealand Rugby imitating if their roles were reversed and the All Blacks sought to appoint an Australian coach.

‘‘Dave Rennie is rated very highly by players who have been coached by him, but if an Australian was appointed to coach the All Blacks there would be outright war,’’ Kearns told Newstalk ZB.

‘‘There is currently no obvious Australian candidate to take the head coach role. There are some guys coming through who we think have got potential but there is no one ready to take the reins right now.

‘‘Generally, over the last 20 years we have been coaching a style of rugby that is very played by numbers and I don’t think we have brought a lot of great coaches through. The ones who had potential have been dragged overseas, mostly to the UK.

‘‘The ability to keep them hasn’t been great and we only have four professional teams and we need to do a better job of coaching the coaches.

‘‘It would be a mistake if Dave Rennie came in with a whole crew of Kiwi coaches because he has to be seen to be imparting his knowledge on the next batch of Australian coaches.’’

England coach Eddie Jones was the only Australian linked with the Wallabies job but he was unavailable while still contracted to the Rugby Football Union through to 2021.

Rennie is yet to confirm the make-up of his coaching staff and he won’t officially take charge of the Wallabies until the middle of next year while he finishes up with Glasgow Warriors.

Kearns has already endorsed Rennie’s appointment, saying ‘‘he sounds like a great pick’’, and he continued by highlighting some of the obstacles the New Zealander must overcome after the Wallabies were knocked out of the World Cup by England in the quarterfinals last month.

The former hooker said he was unhappy with the style of rugby the Wallabies had played since the turn of the century and no Australian side has lifted the Bledisloe Cup since 2002. The All Blacks have retained the trophy every year since.

‘‘You have seen the Wallabies play a very structured, programmed style of game for the last 15-20 years and our strength traditionally has been our flair and ad-lib which has to a large extent disappeared,’’ Kearns said.

‘‘Dave Rennie’s job is to get the most out of the players he has got and identify the next group of talent coming through and make sure they are coached properly. Our players have been so worried about where they have to be on the field rather than responding to the way the game is being played that it has taken us backwards.

‘‘Look at the team Rod McQueen coached, and the backline was: Gregan. Larkham, Horan, Little, Roff, Tune and Burke with a couple of decent forwards running around supporting them. They knew how to play rugby and had the skills which I am not sure we have been coaching for the last 15 years.

‘‘At the World Cup one of the big issues was that we didn’t have a world class 9 or 10.’’