{"id":496766,"date":"2026-06-26T15:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/496766\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T15:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T15:26:21","slug":"legendary-all-blacks-coach-named-as-dave-rennies-successor-in-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/496766\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary All Blacks coach named as Dave Rennie’s successor in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sir Wayne Smith has been unveiled as All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie\u2019s successor at the Kobe Kobelco Steelers, the Japanese club has confirmed.<\/p>\n

The former All Blacks coach has a long history with the Steelers, working as a consultant with the team for several years, and now takes on the top job after vacating his position at New Zealand Rugby as the union\u2019s performance coach.<\/p>\n

Wayne Smith replaces Dave Rennie<\/p>\n

The 69-year-old is one of the most highly-regarded coaches in the game after helping the All Blacks win back-to-back Rugby World Cups, working as an assistant to Sir Graham Henry and Sir Steve Hansen.<\/p>\n

In 2022, Smith<\/a> was appointed as the Black Ferns head coach and led the team to Rugby World Cup glory, defeating England in New Zealand<\/a> in the final. This will be his first full-time head coaching position since doing so.<\/p>\n

He has been entrusted to lead Kobe\u2019s title defence after Rennie<\/a> signed off as the team\u2019s head coach by winning the 2025\/26 Japan Rugby League One before returning to New Zealand to replace Scott Robertson as the All Blacks boss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had 3 wonderful seasons with Kobelco Steelers from 2018-2020. Dave Dillon was head coach whilst I filled the Director of Coaching role,\u201d Smith said in a Kobe statement.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI\u2019ve always tried to stay true to this style of play and I am hugely excited to be working with Kobe again. It is a great honour to join the Kobelco Kobe Steelers, a club with a proud history and rich tradition. I am committed to contributing to the continued success of the team and will give everything I have to help us achieve our goal of becoming champion of Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith is set to oversee a changing of the guard at Kobe in his new position, as he will need to hire new assistant coaches, with Rennie taking Mike Blair with him to the All Blacks, while Dan McFarland will take over as the new boss at Newcastle Red Bulls.<\/p>\n

New All Blacks coach has worked for three years to \u2018get rid\u2019 of Wayne Smith\u2019s \u2018mantra\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Sir Wayne Smith\u2019s overseas move \u2018coincidental\u2019 after hitting out at New Zealand Rugby over Scott Robertson decision<\/a><\/p>\n

Double signings<\/p>\n

The Japanese club has also confirmed the signing of Springboks scrum-half Grant Williams and former All Blacks winger George Bridge ahead of the 2027\/27 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard so many great things about both the club and the city of Kobe, and I can\u2019t wait to meet all of the Steelers teammates and represent Kobe,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be an exciting new challenge for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n

Bridge said: \u201cThrough my previous visits to Japan, I became deeply drawn to the culture and the people, and I had always hoped that one day I would return to play here again. I am sincerely looking forward to meeting my teammates, the staff, and all of the fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams is set to become the seventh Springbok to represent Kobe following the likes of Peter Grant, Jaque Fourie, Andries Bekker, Lukhanyo Am, and Marcell Coetzee. Meanwhile, Bridge will be the 14th All Black to play for the Steelers, with notable players being Ben Smith, Brodie Retallick, Ardie Savea, Dan Carter and Ngani Laumape.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Justin Marshall continues to \u2018bang the drum\u2019 on All Blacks \u2018problem\u2019 as he takes hope from Dave Rennie message<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Wayne Smith has been unveiled as All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie\u2019s successor at the Kobe Kobelco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[169306,1463,1759,111,43,139,69,141731,213,59379],"class_list":["post-496766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-dave-rennie","tag-home-page","tag-japan","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sir-wayne-smith","tag-sports","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496766","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=496766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}