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Wallabies coach Rennie looking for a more 'settled' squad this year
Rugby fans can expect a more settled Wallabies line-up in 2022 as coach Dave Rennie ramps up preparations for next year’s World Cup in France.
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Rennie has introduced 20 newcomers to the Test arena since succeeding Michael Cheika in 2020 in a concerted effort to build a squad with sufficient experience to challenge for the Webb Ellis Cup again.
It will be a quarter of a century since Australia last raised the trophy – for a second time – by the time the 10th edition of the global showpiece rolls around in 2023.
Final defeats in 2003 and 2015 have been as close as the Wallabies have got to matching their 1991 and 1999 World Cup triumphs and Rennie knows striking the right balance between youth and know-how is key.
Hence why he won’t blooding another raft of fresh talent during the Wallabies’ 14 or 15 Tests this season, depending on the final program for the northern hemisphere spring tour in November.
“I’d expect us to have a more settled look around the squad because we’ve got a lot of knowledge and we’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys we’re using,” Rennie said on Tuesday.
“But they’ve got to perform and, if they do that, hopefully they can build on what they’ve done so far.
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“But we’re certainly not going to close the door on anyone jumping out of the pack.
“The door’s always open. If someone emerges from left field, they’ll be rewarded.”
Rugby Australia’s re-signing on Tuesday of 32-year-old, 114-Test prop James Slipper is evidence that Rennie is well aware that the average age of winning squads is getting older every World Cup cycle.
“But you’ve got to earn the right to play as well,” Rennie said.
“Just because you’ve been around a long time doesn’t guarantee you being part of a World Cup.
“And what we’ve being doing over the last couple of years is picking some young men who hopefully by the time they go to a World Cup have got 40 Test caps under them – or maybe more.
“So we learnt a lot last year. We had a tough international season and we’ve got another one (this year) which is awesome.”
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In a change of tack, Rennie also brought several seasoned overseas-based players back into the Wallabies fold in 2021, including Kurtley Beale on the end-of-year spring tour.
The coach said he’d welcome the 33-year-old’s return to Super Rugby amid reports the 95-Test star was keen to come home from France.
“I was really impressed with KB. Obviously (he’s) passionate, desperate to be part of the Wallabies again and his contribution was massive,” Rennie said.
“He worked really hard on his game, contributed lots in regards to the discussion and our planning and performed really well.
“He looked really sharp against Wales and his real point of difference has often been his speed and footwork and making sure that’s at the top.
“That’s probably the challenge for him.
“So if he’s coming home, that would be great from our perspective because we’ll have a lot more influence from a Super Rugby point of view compared to if he was playing in France.”
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments