Video: Kiwi Rennie picks holes in England's World Cup challenge and discusses next career move
Dave Rennie has garnished quite the CV in club rugby, he instilled an attractive brand of rugby at the Chiefs, leading them to Super Rugby titles in 2012 and 2013. A move to the Northern Hemisphere to Glasgow Warriors in 2017 has also been relatively successful, helping them to a PRO14 semi-final, while their Champions Cup campaign was a forgettable experience with just a single win.
Amidst his debut season with the Warriors, he was strongly linked to the Wales job which is to be vacated by Warren Gatland after the 2019 World Cup, but was it a distraction?
“No. It’s small talk around media and speculation and I suppose I was fending it off more than anything else. As I said at the time I am really happy where I am, it has been a really good change for me coming from New Zealand, get to work with really good men, so enjoying it and hopefully trying to press on this year.”
Rennie’s countryman Wayne Pivac would eventually land the Welsh role, but with several other high profile international coaches having their contracts come to an end in 2019 – including Joe Schmidt with Ireland and Steve Hansen with the All Blacks – and the inevitable turnover post-World Cup, would he be interested in trying his hand at international level in future.
“I think so. I enjoy the day-to-day coaching and maybe the frustration from an international point of view is that you get a small block and you are pretty reliant on the clubs that the players come from doing a good job, around developing skillsets, doing the conditioning and so on. I really enjoy being on the grass coaching, hence the reason I am still doing it.”
Rennie has kept a keen eye on the Rugby Championship and he told RugbyPass that the All Blacks defeat to the Springboks may not be such a bad thing.
“Perfect timing. I think the All Blacks have traditionally been the best side in the world for three years and then got tipped up in a World Cup. I think this time a year out from the World Cup last time they got tipped over as well and it’s just a good reminder for them. They won’t be too upset by it, but they’ll know they’ll have to be at their best each week and if you are a couple of colts off you can get rolled. So, good timing I reckon.”
“Obviously they backed themselves to score didn’t they and whether they regret that decision I am not sure. There is no guarantees that you are going to put it between the posts, but 2007 they learned some lessons around those opportunities and I guess that younger breed may not have seen that game.
“They have got a very smart coaching group, they have a lot of high-quality players, I am sure they have learned a few things from that game.”
One team who have designs on challenging New Zealand for World Cup honours in Japan is England. They’ve just recruited John Mitchell, who believes his new employers can “be the best within a year’s time”, but Rennie feels that there are too many hurdles for England to face.
“I think the edge that the All Blacks probably have on most teams is that they have five Super Rugby sides that are all well conditioned and play a very similar brand of rugby and the All Blacks get to pick the cream of the crop out of that.
“With the fact that English sides have private ownership and so on, maybe the focus isn’t initially on the national side. Their challenge is to pick the best out of that group, working really closely to get the best out of the players and taking them to the World Cup. Yeah there are some challenges there for them.”
There have also been questions over Mitchell’s temperament, with a disruptive reputation from previous roles, but Rennie feels England have recruited well.
“He is a very, very experienced coach, he has coached pretty much in every continent in the world, I think he’ll bring that experience.
“He has got a hard edge about him, obviously with Eddie very experienced as well. They have some amazing players in England, so he’ll add to that.”
“My association with Mitch is over a beer, we have some mutual friends. Look he’s a lover of the game, very analytical. My association with him is social and he comes across as a very good man.”
“I am not sure of the role that Eddie has for him. There has been talk about him taking on the defence role, but he has a lot of skills in a lot of other areas, different roles, whether with the All Blacks, obviously assistant coach with England in the past and a lot of different Super Rugby sides, so whether he will have a bit of involvement around post-tackle and so on, I am not sure. Very experienced and I think he is smart enough to utilise the knowledge of the players in the current set-up.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Starts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
2 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
2 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
228 Go to commentsKok will become a fan favourite
1 Go to commentsI am really looking forward to Leigh Halfpenny playing his first Super rugby game for the Crusaders Playing a long side his former Welsh and Scarlets team mate Johnny McNicoll.Johnny has been playing great, back in a Crusaders jersey.The attack has strengthened big time. Also looking forward to David Havili at 10. David is a class act, it also allows Dallas McLeod to remain at 12. A good thing.
1 Go to comments