Rennie to the rescue

By Aiden McLaughlin

Three years is a long time in rugby.

Ditched by the Wallabies at the start of 2023 as Rugby Australia panicked before that year’s World Cup, Dave Rennie would have been a long shot to one day become All Blacks head coach, especially when Scott Robertson was appointed to the role just two months later.

But things change.

Rennie was named as head coach of Japanese club Kobe Steelers in May that year, a move which more often than not comes at the latter stages of a coach’s career, when their international days are behind them; see Robbie Deans and Sir Steve Hansen, to name but two.

Rennie however, has proved to be the exception that proves that rule.

He was committed to coming back to New Zealand once Kobe’s current season had finished, but his plans were to get back to family life in Palmerston North and spend time with his children and grandchildren, as well as possibly helping his beloved Manawatu Turbos in an unpaid role. When Robertson was sacked earlier this year and the opportunity to apply for the All Blacks role came up, he talked to his family first, who encouraged him to apply.

While this was going on, Jamie Joseph became the overwhelming favourite to become Robertson’s successor. He ticked plenty of boxes for NZR’s stated criteria (he had international experience with Japan for example), was already in NZR’s system as the Highlanders head coach, and took charge of the All Blacks XV tour to Europe late last year. 

But the longer the appointment process took, the more that it seemed like Joseph would get pipped at the post yet again. There wasn’t anything specific, but more an intangible feeling in the air.

NZR chair David Kirk confirmed today, that Rennie and Joseph had been observed in their coaching environments recently, by two of the five man recruitment panel. 

The panel also took references from five referees for Rennie and Joseph, before the three to four hour interviews for each of them earlier this week.

This morning, the NZR board met and unanimously agreed that Rennie was indeed their man.

Inevitably, as people look for the positive reasons that Rennie got the job, people will also look at the negatives that may have counted against Joseph. But that probably does a disservice to both men. If you’ve got two quality candidates, they’ve both got plenty of strengths. On this occasion, Rennie got the nod, but there wouldn’t have been too many complaints had Joseph been the successful one.

Rennie comes across as someone who’ll hit the ground running and he’ll need to. It’s a huge year for the All Blacks with Nations Championship fixtures and a massive tour to South Africa. By his own admission, he’ll be using every spare hour he has before formally taking up the role at the end of Kobe’s campaign. But the NZR panel clearly think he’s capable of making it work, otherwise it wouldn’t be worth the risk.

His backroom team will be hugely important and that’s the next puzzle that he and NZR have to solve in the next week or two.

Ultimately, for the masses, Rennie will be judged by how well the All Blacks do at next year’s Rugby World Cup, but what we’ll never see up close is what he’ll bring to the set-up behind the scenes, and that’s clearly what NZR are banking on. Culture is a word that’s been used a lot when referring to Rennie today, and understandably so. 

Whether the All Blacks win back the William Webb Ellis trophy in Australia is hard to predict. But with Dave Rennie at the helm, NZR are confident that they have given them their best chance.