a decisive push<\/a> after a scathing review at the end of last year.<\/p>\nThe good vibes continued. Yes, the All Blacks can win next year\u2019s World Cup, Rennie, the former Wallabies head coach sacked before the 2023 edition, said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe answer is yes and it will take a hell of a lot of work. It will take a lot of alignment. Rest assured, we\u2019ll be working together. When you look at the game model, we\u2019ve got to make sure our players and staff\u2026 are all aligned so we\u2019re in the best possible position to execute and play well. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a sprint from here\u2026 I\u2019m well aware that with the way the draw works out, as is typical fashion at World Cups we\u2019re likely to meet South Africa in a quarter-final. We\u2019ll get a bit of practice against them this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
And, yes, he was looking forward to the gruelling six-week tour of South Africa in August and September.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really excited about that tour,\u201d he said. \u201cSome people might think it\u2019s daunting but we\u2019re going to get six weeks in Africa with 40-odd players. It\u2019s a massive opportunity for us to really drive culture and get some detail into our game model and come out of there 12 months away from a World Cup with clarity and excitement.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were some questions that he could not or would not answer, though, including who he will name as his assistants. Rennie\u2019s answer will add to the feeling of uncertainty felt by incumbents Jason Ryan, Tamati Ellison and Scott Hansen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll work through that,\u201d Rennie said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a strength of surrounding myself with quality people \u2013 people that can make a difference. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m keen on bringing some people in. Whenever a head coach leaves it affects a lot of people and I want to sit down with some of the affected people and make some decisions over the next week or two.\u201d<\/p>\n
NZ Rugby chairman Kirk said Rennie was best able to explain how he would \u201cbuild and maintain a culture and what it takes to win rugby games in the modern era\u201d.<\/p>\n
Culture, Rennie said, \u201cis a key part to understanding who we represent and how we want to be perceived\u201d.<\/p>\n
On winning in the modern era, he said: \u201cI\u2019m really clear on the game we want to play and the detail within that \u2013 the type of athlete we need and how we\u2019re going to make shifts. <\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t go into detail about that and I won\u2019t throw the previous regime under the bus but I can assure you that I\u2019ve watched a lot of footy already and I have some firm ideas about the shifts we need to make us better.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he would speak to the players before making a decision on his captain, but it would be a surprise if he did not choose current vice-captain Ardie Savea, who plays under him at Kobe, as Scott Barrett\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n
Encouragingly for most of those attending and further afield, Rennie added: \u201cI guess one advantage is players are going to have to earn the right to wear the jersey. I\u2019ve got no loyalties, I don\u2019t come from a team where I\u2019ve had a lot of these guys\u2026 I think that\u2019s really exciting and I\u2019ll select players on form.”<\/p>\n
At the end of it all, if any of his quotes could sum up Rennie best today it was this one regarding his agenda before Robertson’s departure opened up an opportunity he could hardly have imagined when he left New Zealand nine years ago: \u201cMy plan was to come home, spend a bit of time in Palmy, cut a bit of firewood and be an unpaid assistant coach at Manawat\u016b.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a palpable atmosphere of excitement at New Zealand Rugby\u2019s Auckland headquarters this afternoon before new All…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,111,139,69,1838,213],"class_list":["post-312727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rugby-world-cup","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Brodie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/brodie-retallick-in-action-for-kobe-against-toshiba-in-the-j-YRY6YXMSEFCT5PHKLZDQQPQ4LU.jpg\")
<\/p>\n