Rennie is only in it to win it with Warriors
Glasgow warriors head coach Dave Rennie has targeted winning the Pro14 title at the first time of asking. The Kiwi, who has succeeded gregor Townsend at scotstoun, only arrived in scotland three weeks ago but has confidently predicted his team can challenge for the championship.
Rennie, when asked how he would define success in his first season competing in the Pro14, simply replied: ‘winning it.’
The 53-year-old won two super 14 titles in his time with waikato Chiefs and insists he is deliberately setting high standards for his glasgow players.
‘we want the squad to be better and we want to develop more scottish international players, and bring some good, young kids through,’ continued Rennie. ‘Ultimately, if we do all that and finish sixth, you are not going to call it successful, are you?
‘we have to have high aspirations. If you don’t believe you can win it then you are in trouble. we have to set the bar high and then have to work hard to achieve that. we won’t be talking about anything other than winning the title.’
warriors finished sixth in the league last season and Rennie wants them to play a ‘powerful and explosive game’ — starting in their tricky opener away to Connacht at the weekend.
‘with gregor Townsend being here the last few years, the team played a real positive style and that suits what I want, too,’ he said. ‘Between all of us coaches, we’re trying to build on that and make subtle changes.
‘we’re getting there but it’s going to be a gradual process. we’re fortunate that we’ve some very good players, a lot of experience and a group of men with a positive mindset. we want our boys to be a little bit more powerful and explosive, so the gym programme has reflected that and we’re starting to see the benefits.’
He defended taking the captaincy off Jonny gray and Henry Pyrgos, who held it jointly last season, and backed his choice Ryan wilson to lead by example.
‘I watched them train and I have watched the leaders’ meetings and got a feel of things,’ said Rennie, who has been tipped as a future all Blacks head coach.
‘Ryan speaks really well and is well-respected and has a really good understanding of the game. what I also like about him is the way he cares about the players and how he interacts with them. He is good at putting an arm around guys but is also prepared to jab them in the ribs to get more out of people.
‘He has some qualities that are outstanding from a captaincy point of view. we have a lot of good leaders and, although we have decided that Ryan will have the “C” next to his name, he will have a lot of support around him.’
Rennie, who spent five years leading the Chiefs in super Rugby, said he was excited at the introduction of the two south african teams — southern Kings of Port Elizabeth and the Toyota Cheetahs of Bloemfontein — into the Pro14.
He did warn, though, that the tournament should not be allowed to have too many clubs involved as it would get too unwieldy, which was the case in the super14.
Ironically, an attempt to make it more manageable led to the Kings and the Cheetahs being cut over the summer which allowed them to join the European tournament.
‘super Rugby was a really good format and then they tried to make it more global,’ said Rennie. ‘Because of that, it has increased the amount of travel and the amount of time away from home so that it has become an unbalanced competition.
‘The New Zealand pool was very tough but the australian one was not. Half the south african teams didn’t play the Kiwis in the round robin so they could go on to reach the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
‘I would imagine the Pro14 group have looked at that and come up with a competition that will avoid that sort of criticism.’