Two favourites for Wales job collide in PRO14 - but which Kiwi is the best candidate to succeed Gatland
Dave Rennie and Wayne Pivac are the leading candidates to replace Warren Gatland when he steps down as Wales head coach at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Gatland has been in charge of Wales since 2007 and in that time he’s led them to three Six Nations titles, including two Grand Slams. He also guided Wales to the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup.
Rob Howley has stepped up to take charge of Wales when Gatland has taken sabbaticals to coach the British and Irish Lions, but it appears he’s going to be overlooked for the full-time role.
Another Welsh contender, Dai Young, effectively ruled himself out when he signed a long-term contract extension with Wasps in January.
The WRU have publically stated they’d like to name the new man by this summer, so the countdown is on.
It was suggested that a trio of Kiwi’s were on the shortlist, one of those – Chris Boyd – is taking over the Northampton Saints next season, which leaves Rennie and Pivac in a straight fight for the job.
The duo face each other in the PRO14 on Saturday, when the Scarlets host Glasgow Warriors.
Rennie took over Glasgow at the start of this season and crucially for Wales he only signed a two-year deal, which would leave him available at the end of the 2018/19 season. Rennie is also being spoken about as a possible replacement for Steve Hansen with the All Blacks, such is his reputation back home.
In terms of international pedigree, the 54-year-old can boast three U20 World Championships with New Zealand, while he claimed two Super Rugby titles with the Chiefs, in 2012 and 2013. The brand of rugby played by the Chiefs under Rennie will also be admired by rugby purists in Wales, and that style of play has been incorporated by Glasgow too with Rennie, continuing where Gregor Townsend left off.
Although Glasgow hold a 12 point advantage at the top of Conference A in the PRO14, in the Champions Cup they were hugely disappointing, finishing bottom of Pool 3 and registering just one win and five defeats.
In contrast Wayne Pivac has steered the Scarlets to the semi-finals of the Champions Cup this season, having recovered from losing their opening two pool 5 games to qualify for the knockout stage.
Another advantage that Pivac has over Rennie is the fact he’s been coaching in Wales since 2014, he knows the landscape both in terms of players and structure. He was initially brought in as an assistant to Simon Easterby, before being handed the head coach role a few months later when Easterby left for Ireland. He’s made steady progress, a 6th place finish in 2015 was followed by a 5th in 2016 and last year his swashbuckling attacking side won the PRO12 title, blasting past Munster 46-22 in the final.
The former policeman also has senior international experience with Fiji, whom he led to the 2004 Pacific Tri-Nations, while in 2005 he helped Fiji’s seven’s side to Rugby World Cup Sevens title.
Back in New Zealand he’s coached Northland, Auckland and North Harbour.
Only last October Pivac signed a new Scarlets contract until 2020, but this week he revealed that the WRU had enquired about him.
“There has been nothing formal, just discussions around my contract here, which I recently signed. As you would expect, I am pretty sure most coaches in Wales at the highest levels would have those conversations.”
If it is down to these two the WRU will have a difficult decision to make, but with Ireland potentially seeking a replacement for Joe Schmidt too in 2019, they may want to act fast.
Comments on RugbyPass
What ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
128 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
128 Go to commentsPacific Lions, cry me a river
128 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
128 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
128 Go to commentsBen is right here though, Springboks were woefully poor with the advantage they had throughout this game. The France match was heroic because that was an even contest this match had it taken place in Rugby Championship would have been an easy win for NZ. If anything this match should tell the Bok coaches that a lot of this team should be changed. They beat this same NZ team by record margin with the same circumstances but with a different core. They bring back the tried and tested guys and they nearly botch this game.
128 Go to commentsI knew who wrote this article from the first few words in the headline…lol. The red card actually did the ABs a favour. It galvanized them, only then did they step up a gear. Before that there was zero momentum.
128 Go to commentsFirstly the foul on Bongi was a planned move just like the NZ master plan with Bryce Lawrence you kiwis are filthy fux perhaps try to play a cleaner game next time I doubt that’s possible tho but don’t worry world rugby is on yr side they trying to take away all the BOKS strengths to help all you weakling as Jeremy Clarkson would say LA OO ZA ERR..🤣
128 Go to commentsAbsolutely spot on Ben. I certainly wouldn't gloat over a win like that. Frustrating as it is it's done and dusted and history will forever show the result.
128 Go to commentsHo hum.
128 Go to commentsNo question they were the better team. But that is the beauty of sport isn’t it!
128 Go to commentsEveryone is into Hurling in Ireland according to Porter, but only 11 of Ireland's 32 counties enter a team into the national competition. Same old blarney.
1 Go to commentsLet’s be honest. The draw and scheduling in the World Cup was a joke but South Africa found a way after having to go the hard (nearly impossible) way to the Cup Final via France and England. NZ had a hard game against France (lost) and had 5 weeks to prepare for the Quarter, 3 weeks knowing it was Ireland. NZ theerfore had to win one big game against an Irish team who played SA and then Scotland 7 days before. They won and it was de facto a semi final because they were playing a relatively weak Argentina team and it was a walk over. In the final a very rested NZ team was playing a very tired SA team and still lost. They couldn’t score more than 11 points. Put another way SA had to find a way to win while tired and they achieved that. NZ should thank their lucky stars that they fixed the scheduling in 2015 otherwise they would be dealing with a Bok treble.
128 Go to commentsPerhaps if Bongi wasn’t targeted and removed from the game in the first 3 minutes it would have been quite a different game. Maybe if NZ also faced the same competition the Boks faced to their win NZ would have looked quite different. The final score shows who outplayed who.
128 Go to commentsRubbish article! Abuladze played most of Exeters matches when fit. He got injured against Glasgow a while ago and is out for the rest of the season, thats why he hasnt played for Exeter and Georgia recently. Do some proper research next time!
1 Go to commentsGotta love it when kids throw their toys out the pram and can’t hack it with the grown ups debate. Here’s looking at you turlough! 😉🤣
148 Go to commentsThey lost the game period move on
128 Go to commentsSpringboks won! Stop winging. You can change the game however much you and your rugby colonizing IRB want to and the Springboks will win you at that too. Your mind is colonized my friend get a life
128 Go to commentsBen, nobody gets fooled anymore by selective and biased data to support an hypothesis. Games are decided on such small margins these days that you win some and lose some, and dominance is a thing of the rugby past. Look at the RWC circle of fortune…. Ireland beats SA who beat France who beat NZ who beat Ireland. And so it goes on. Match officials help to eliminate real indiscretions. If they had been with us years before, no doubt results would have been different. Remember Andy Haden’s dive from a lineout in 1978 for which a match-wining penalty was awarded? Wales should have beaten the ABs that day. They took the loss like the gentlemen they were.
128 Go to commentsWith all the analysis and how good the all blacks were.The fundamental mistake with the ABs is that this is a test match and not an exhibition.There is no better team(country) in world rugby than the Boks that knows how to win a test match(we are post masters at this).We know our rules, we have the discipline, we tackle like beasts, we take our points and we never give up.I now have educated the ABs supporters(at least say thank you).Please stop “bitching” , accept what the outcome is and move along swiftly.
128 Go to comments