{"id":517237,"date":"2026-03-04T03:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T03:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/517237\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T03:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T03:03:17","slug":"all-blacks-coach-charting-the-rise-of-dave-rennie-from-club-rugby-to-head-coach-of-the-all-blacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/517237\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks coach: Charting the rise of Dave Rennie – from club rugby to head coach of the All Blacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year later, Mourie concentrated on the Hurricanes job and Rennie became head coach in 2000 when Wellington won their first NPC title since 1986 in a thrilling final over Canterbury. Critics might say anyone could have coached a Wellington side with the likes of Jonah Lomu<\/a>, Christian Cullen<\/a>, Tana Umaga<\/a>, Jerry Collins<\/a> and Rodney So\u2019oialo, but they beat an equally All Blacks-laden Canterbury side to lift the trophy.<\/p>\n

\"WellingtonWellington fans line Lambton Quay for Lions players from left, Jonah Lomu, Norm Hewitt, Shannon Paku, Jason O’Halloran, coach Dave Rennie, Brad Fleming and David Holwell during their parade through the city to celebrate their victory in their NPC title in 2000. Photo \/ Mark Mitchell<\/p>\n

In 2006, Rennie moved up State Highway 1 to Palmerston North and became head coach of the Manawat\u016b Turbos, while also taking over as New Zealand under-20s coach in 2008.<\/p>\n

Under Rennie, the under-20s won three straight world championship titles, but running Manawat\u016b was a bigger challenge.<\/p>\n

Perennial battlers since the NPC was rejigged to include 14 teams in 2006, the Turbos finally came good in 2011, with Rennie in his sixth season at the helm. They made the ITM Cup championship division final before losing to Hawke\u2019s Bay and missed out on promotion.<\/p>\n

\"RussellRussell Hilton-Jones and Dave Rennie with the Under 20 World Cup after the team arrived home in 2008. Photo \/ Greg Bowker<\/p>\n

When he first joined the Chiefs leading into the 2012 season, Rennie put the work in to get the team into the community. Players were told only to gather at St Paul\u2019s Collegiate Pavilion in Hamilton at 7.30am on a Monday and they had their wallets and bags taken off them on arrival. They were issued with $10 and directed to make their way in pairs to \u014chope Top 10 Holiday Park, near Whakat\u0101ne, a mere 200km away.<\/p>\n

Players tweeted for assistance or hitchhiked for rides. Reassuringly for Rennie, no one got lost. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to thank the public for helping the boys get to their destination and the generosity with transport and meals,\u201d Rennie said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great opportunity for our players to exhibit leadership, initiative and resourcefulness, while connecting with the wider community. They had some great experiences and met some wonderful people on their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks No 10 Aaron Cruden was a key figure in the side.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter working with Dave for a few years, I knew that he and the Chiefs\u2019 management would have some tricks up their sleeve, but I wasn\u2019t sure what they would be,\u201c Cruden said. \u201cThis was great fun and a great way to get to know some of the Chiefs\u2019 region.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CoachCoach Dave Rennie in his first season at the Chiefs in 2012. Photo \/ Christine Cornege<\/p>\n

That seemed to work. Rennie coached the Chiefs to back-to-back championships<\/a> in his first two years in charge, and made the Super Rugby playoffs in every year of his reign.<\/p>\n

In 2016, he announced he was leaving the Chiefs for a head coaching role with the Glasgow Warriors, replacing Gregor Townsend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have loved my time here and leave with a heavy heart. I\u2019ve been fortunate to work with fantastic people and I am exceptionally proud of the men who represent us and what we have achieved over the past five years,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is no secret I have been interested in coaching abroad and this chance with Scottish Rugby fitted the bill perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Sir Steve Hansen<\/a> announced in 2019 that it would be his final year as All Blacks coach, Rennie would have been in the mix but signed a contract extension with Glasgow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be here for at least another year and a half \u2013 possibly longer,\u201d Rennie told the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been really good. We\u2019re happy, and my wife is happy, that\u2019s the key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Rennie, Glasgow reached a Pro 14 final and got as far as the quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup. <\/p>\n

Rennie got his first taste of coaching a full international side when he was announced as Wallabies coach at the end of 2019, as Michael Cheika\u2019s turbulent time in charge wound down.<\/p>\n

Covid-19 played havoc with the start of his time at the Wallabies, with bizarre results to go with the bizarre setting. They played just six tests in 2020, all against either the All Blacks or Pumas<\/a>, three of them draws, to go with two defeats and one victory – his only win over the All Blacks. The following year began with the Wallabies tracking well in a home series win over France, followed by three straight defeats to Foster\u2019s All Blacks. They closed the Rugby Championship with two wins, one each over South Africa and Argentina. <\/p>\n

\"WallabiesWallabies head coach Dave Rennie before a test against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 2021. Photo \/ Jason Oxenham<\/p>\n

But after another win over Japan, the Wallabies then lost to Scotland, England and Wales on their 2021 tour. <\/p>\n

While Rennie was still trying to make his mark with the Wallabies, he played a part in the turnaround at the New Zealand Warriors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2021, something was seriously wrong at the NRL club. The team was based in Australia without a home, and most importantly, without an identity \u2013 and the results were starting to show that. <\/p>\n

After being given a steer in the right direction, Warriors CEO Cameron George wasted no time in sounding out Rennie to help forge an identity<\/a> from which the Warriors could form a new, much-needed, culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was unbelievable in terms of being so welcoming to the opportunity to speak to him,\u201d George said of Rennie.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the best thing I ever did. He helped me navigate through that time, and then develop a plan around how to pull the culture back together, and create the identity we needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the questions I asked him \u2013 he was coach of the Wallabies at the time, who, like us, have multiple cultures within it while representing in his case a country \u2013 [was] how does he do it?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was so open and transparent on his experiences, what has worked, what hasn\u2019t worked, why certain things would work for the Warriors.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is, without doubt, probably the turning point to creating a pathway forward for our identity.<\/p>\n

Rennie\u2019s final year in charge at the Wallabies again had highs (wins over the Springboks and Argentina). He did at least provide a talking point when the Wallabies faced down the haka in Melbourne, which led to some blowback.<\/p>\n

\"WallabiesWallabies coach Dave Rennie with Nic White. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Rieko Ioane had a lot to say to our boys after the final try, mouthing off at Folau Fainga\u2019a around disrespecting the haka, which is a bit odd,\u201d Rennie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs New Zealanders would know, when a team does the haka, you respond with a haka.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have that luxury of having a haka, so our response is in a boomerang shape and to move forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re throwing down a challenge, and we\u2019re accepting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wallabies had another poor tour in 2022, which included Australia\u2019s first defeat to Italy, along with losses to France and Ireland. Rennie\u2019s final test was a win over Wales, just like Scott Robertson.<\/p>\n

In 2023, with a World Cup less than nine months away, Rugby Australia replaced Rennie with Eddie Jones<\/a>. Rennie finished with a winning record of 38%, the lowest of any coach in Wallabies history with a minimum of 30 tests. The Wallabies were coming off a difficult 2022, which only yielded five wins from 14 tests.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed I won\u2019t be able to see out my contract in the way I agreed to back in 2019, but leave knowing I had the full support of the playing group and the staff,\u201d Rennie said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly felt we have made massive shifts over the past three years both on and off the field, which is off the back of a hell of a lot of hard work put in by good people.<\/p>\n

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Jones signed a five-year deal with Rugby Australia through to 2027. He left after the World Cup when Australia failed to get out of pool play for the first time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since leaving the Wallabies, Rennie has been coaching in Japan with Scottish duo Mike Blair (attack coach) and Peter Murchie (defence) assisting him at Kobe Steelers, both played under Rennie in Glasgow.<\/p>\n

Along with Retallick, he has current All Blacks Ardie Savea and Anton Lienert-Brown at the club who will be familar with his style when he takes over the All Blacks for the July home series against France, Italy and Ireland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A year later, Mourie concentrated on the Hurricanes job and Rennie became head coach in 2000 when Wellington…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[1914,3265,32613,64,63,303,9658,226656,22409,10970,3181,25095,258448,5587,29253,175563,941,2877,1787,22553,5378,258447,19306,9669,3206,760,9660,85,320,319,8281],"class_list":{"0":"post-517237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-against","9":"tag-all","10":"tag-announced","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-black","14":"tag-blacks","15":"tag-charting","16":"tag-clash","17":"tag-club","18":"tag-coach","19":"tag-dave","20":"tag-departing","21":"tag-from","22":"tag-head","23":"tag-january","24":"tag-japan","25":"tag-league","26":"tag-of","27":"tag-preparing","28":"tag-rams","29":"tag-rennie","30":"tag-rise","31":"tag-robertson","32":"tag-role","33":"tag-rugby","34":"tag-scott","35":"tag-sports","36":"tag-the","37":"tag-to","38":"tag-when"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}