'Your country needs you': Neil Barnes on his initial message to Dave Rennie

Just weeks after Scott Robertson departed his role with the All Blacks on January 15, former Taranaki head coach Neil Barnes sent a message to Dave Rennie about how he should apply for the vacant role.

Rennie was appointed by New Zealand Rugby for the next two years, taking him to the end of the 2027 Rugby World Cup cycle alongside his new assistants and head of performance Phil Healey, Tana Umaga, Jason Ryan, Mike Blair, and Barnes.

Barnes said that when the coaching announcement first happened, he quickly thought of Rennie and what he could bring to the environment.

“When the opportunity came available, I reached out to Rennie and just encouraged him to apply, because I felt the country needed him, because I’ve got a massive amount of respect for him as a coach,” Barnes told Millsy & Guy on Sport Nation.

“But mate, I’ve got no idea where he was sitting. He might have already decided he was going to I’ve got no idea, and he’s got a ton of friends that all would have been saying the same thing.

“That was our first correspondence, and he actually messaged back straight away saying, you available? But I came back to him and said, mate, that’s not gonna help you get the job, just a bit of banter. But at the end of the day, a phone call came 10 days or so later, which was a bit more serious so it was exciting.”

 

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Barnes was then asked to expand on his statement about why he believes the country needs Rennie, through his experience alongside him at the Chiefs.

“He is unbelievably honest, caring, and driven, all of those qualities when you put them together, a smart rugby coach,” the new All Blacks senior assistant said on Sport Nation.

“He’ll get the best out of people. Having worked with him, he’s earned my respect, not only as a coach, but as a person. So yeah, I think he’ll be refreshing for his country at the end of the day, he’d be pretty open about how he’s feeling and how the team’s going.

“He can also be pretty brief, and needs to increase the honesty side of things within the team. So he’s a deep person that cares.”

Although Barnes hasn’t worked with Blair personally, he said that if Rennie trusts him, then he has his respect too.

“Attention to detail, great attacking mindset. I’ve never met the man in person, but from afar, I respect him for the amount of time he spent in international rugby, he’ll be the same person he was when he was a player and as a coach, but to have Rennie’s respect, he’s obviously someone that works hard and is good at what he does.

“Otherwise, he wouldn’t be there, I promise you that.”