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Dave Rennie can't make the same mistake as Razor with the All Blacks

New Zealand All Black Head Coach Dave Rennie speaks to media during a press conference on March 04, 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand. Dave Rennie was today announced as the new All Black Coach. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)
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18 Comments

I was a journalism student when I first interviewed Dave Rennie.

He was Wellington coach at the time and I was, well, a waste of his time quite frankly. Nervous, dim, I had no idea what I was doing.

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Rennie was patient. He was encouraging, calm. He treated ill-informed questions as pertinent ones and almost coached me along in the art of interviewing.

Most of all, Rennie didn’t make me feel small. He didn’t lord his status over me or show any signs of contempt.

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He could have. Lots of coaches do.

They’re someone and you’re no-one and it’s important for a number of rugby people, be they players, coaches administrators or even communications staff, to remind you of that.

It’s 26 years since I first sat in Rennie’s office. Our paths have crossed plenty of times since and he’s never changed.

I don’t mention this as a way to insert myself into the story of Rennie’s ascension to the position of All Blacks coach. It’s simply to try and demonstrate the quality of the man and give a first-hand illustration of how he treats people.

People should enjoy Rennie, be it the All Blacks themselves or the wider public. They’ll see he’s genuine and that he cares.

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Fans should feel proud that he’s the man at the helm of our national team. They’ll never be left cringing or confused.

In a rugby sense, Rennie will have his hands full. His entire repertoire of people skills are going to be required to cajole the players into performing to their potential and putting the greater good ahead of their own.

I see folk expressing curiosity about who Rennie will appoint as assistant coaches. I’m not sure it matters.

Scott Robertson’s All Blacks had no identity. He appeared to stamp his mark on nothing, whether it was the personality of the team or their playing style.

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I suspect his attempts were rebuffed by the players, which kind of made him an odd appointment in the first place.

The All Blacks could have had him in 2022, when Ian Foster seemed one defeat away from the sack, and signalled pretty clearly that they didn’t fancy him.

I assume they approve of Rennie, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten the job. So that’s a start.

But we shouldn’t underestimate the size of the task, nor expect instant results.

There’s a general malaise around the public’s feeling towards the All Blacks and, therefore, rugby in general. Results have been consistently average for a long time now and, rightly or wrongly, people like winners.

The game in New Zealand works if the All Blacks are working.

Rennie is a man with the interests of others at heart. There’s no discernible ego or awareness of his own brand.

I imagine he’ll run a happy All Blacks camp, but the emphasis here is on the fact that he’ll run it. Yes people will be empowered and yes they’ll be valued and yes the environment will be collegial, but there’ll also be a clear figurehead.

That’s why I mentioned the bit about the assistants.

When the tone is clearly and obviously set by someone who has the respect of all involved, things run smoothly.

Robertson, on reflection, didn’t have broad experience. He knew a lot about rugby in Christchurch, but he was potentially ignorant of methods elsewhere as well as being an international novice.

Rennie – win, lose or draw – won’t have to answer criticism that he doesn’t know what he’s doing. His systems have stood up to scrutiny with a variety of teams in a variety of places for decades.

It won’t be his fault if this team doesn’t improve.

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18 Comments
R
Rick Clark 44 days ago

I thought Razor was appointed to win the World Cup. I think he may have suffered the same illusion. I thought he had four years to “develop “ a team.

I believe he was given an impossible task and crucified by social media then sacrificed by Mark Robinson.

If Rennie, Razor, Hansen or Ted were to coach the All Blacks without being able to include players from offshore they would lose to the current Spring Boks. If Razor was allowed to pick Mounga alone the team would have been more competitive last year who knows if he could have included Retallick, Frizzell, Smith and Cane.

I truly believe Razor was made the Patsy for the inept RFU.

p
prabash 44 days ago

I thought he had four years to “develop “ a team.

If we look at the second row department, there was a shortage when Razor took over. But now ABs have young guns in Vaai, Holland, Lord and Darry with Scooter and Tuips for experience.

J
JW 44 days ago

Dave Rennie can't make the same mistake as Razor with the All Blacks

He already has. He hasn’t used the leverage of the role and team to upgrade his coaching team, you can think of the All Black coaching group being nothing more than a JRLO level staff.


What you would have wanted was key people who had turned him down in the past due the things like the level and role he currently has. These guys though sound like nobody’s. Who did he have with Australia?

O
Over the sideline 44 days ago

Ok so you seem to dislike this appointment. Who would you have had after the Razor failure?

S
SB 45 days ago

It won’t be his fault if this team doesn’t improve.

The performances should improve otherwise he will have to take responsibility for that. However he will largely be working with a similar group of players I think. So let’s see if it was the coaching holding them back or their true level was being exposed.

J
JW 44 days ago

The performances should improve otherwise he will have to take responsibility for that.

You mean Kirk will, that was the whole premise of the change. That doesn’t mean he needs to have a 80% winning percentage though, he can be allowed to have even a much lower winning rate than Razor if he’s giving a lot more players a chance and their creating a greater group by the time RWC comes around etc.


In this case “improve” is a very subjective thing, and I’m sure the author is both talking about that ‘trajectory’ and results. Doesn’t mean the backline has to look a millions dollars straight away or its a failure, though, no.

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