No room at the inn as Rennie makes return

DAVE RENNIE thought he had seen the back of South Africa when he took the Waikato Chiefs there to play the Cheetahs last April. Now he finds himself unexpectedly returning as Glasgow Warriors head coach after the Bloemfontein club joined the Pro14 over the summer after being axed from the Super Rugby tournament.

His team may go there undefeated after five straight league wins — with Friday’s 37-21 bonus point home victory over Benetton Rugby the latest of those — but he does not sound too enamoured about the prospect of a passing visit.

That is understandable when you consider his Glasgow team need three flights to get there and have to stay in Johannesburg, which is a four-hour drive away, because there are no hotels available in Bloemfontein next weekend.

‘Travel, three flights there, three flights back — so not ideal,’ said the Warriors head coach. ‘I was in Bloemfontein with the Chiefs thinking it was going to be my last time for a while but that’s now not the case. It’s a funny week to go there. We’ll stay in Johannesburg most of the time, as there’s a festival, Test cricket and a Currie Cup tie in Bloemfontein, so there’s no accommodation. ‘It’s a little bit strange that Pro14 would put us in Bloemfontein on the week where you can’t actually get any accommodation, so we’re working through a few things around that. We’re going to jump on the bus straight after the game and head back towards Johannesburg to find a place back there for the fellas.’ Although the match will be played at altitude, Rennie doesn’t think that will bother his team as he has faith in his strength and conditioning coach Phil Healey, who he brought with him from the Chiefs. ‘We won’t talk too much about alttitude because our guys are really fit,’ said Rennie. ‘The Chiefs teams that we’ve taken over from New Zealand in the past have been fit, and we’ve run over the top of the Cheetahs in the last 20 minutes, so we’ll certainly be talking positive messages around that.

‘Phil Healey, having been the Chiefs’ trainer for nine years, is very experienced at preparing teams in Africa and he will get the boys right.

‘So we’ll get the sleep patterns right and be ready for the match. We’re taking 27, so it just gives us a little bit of flexibility with sickness or injury.’

Rennie simply said ‘lesson learned’ when asked about if he would allow his players to get anywhere near lions after Ospreys hooker Scott Baldwin had to withdraw from last weekend’s match against the Cheetahs after being bitten by one when he put his hand through the fence of a lion’s enclosure in Bloemfontein.

Ospreys lost 44-25 to the Cheetahs who went up to second behind Glasgow in Conference A of the Pro14.

‘We watched the Cheetahs game and they played exactly how I expected they would after taking them on a number of times, coaching-wise,’ said the Warriors head coach.

‘They’re very dominant up front, they’ve got an outstanding lineout drive and they have got some absolute gas out wide. Kick and chase poorly and you get punished.

‘If your discipline’s poor they can put you in a corner. They are very strong driving and they have got some innovative options around that.’