{"id":741866,"date":"2026-08-18T13:08:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741866\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:08:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T13:08:09","slug":"the-magic-behind-dave-rennies-remarkable-rise-to-the-all-blacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/741866\/","title":{"rendered":"The magic behind Dave Rennie’s remarkable rise to the All Blacks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nine years before becoming head coach of New Zealand<\/a>, a teacher with a guitar and a penchant for landscape gardening pitched up in Scottish rugby with a curious request.<\/p>\n

Dave Rennie had been put in charge of Glasgow Warriors, and his first act was to call the squad together and ask them to watch footage of the Fiji rugby team in a pre-match huddle.<\/p>\n

Finn Russell, Huw Jones and others looked on as the Islanders began singing their pre-match hymn, Noqu Masu. Cue bemused faces all round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you all to learn this,\u201d the new boss told a group that included Ryan Wilson<\/a>, Rennie\u2019s improbable choice as co-captain. \u201cAnd before you ask, let me tell you why.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re willing to stand up in front of everyone and belt this out as loud as you can, you won\u2019t be embarrassed to make mistakes on a rugby field.\u201d<\/p>\n

What followed were three years in which Glasgow<\/a> reached a PRO14 Final and the last-eight in the Champions Cup<\/a> \u2013 and Rennie said he never laughed as much.<\/p>\n

From team quizzes and fitness sessions with giant skipping ropes, to post-match beers and songs. Never far away was his guitar. One day country and western, the next, Bob Marley or Wilson\u2019s personal favourite, Rod Stewart.<\/p>\n

\u201cRens<\/a> is one of the best coaches I ever had,\u201d says Wilson, the 50-cap former Scotland star. \u201cBut, most importantly, he is a good man, one of the best human beings I\u2019ve known.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loves a jar, as he calls it. That\u2019s probably why I connected with him so well. Don\u2019t get me wrong, if you don\u2019t know your s**t, he\u2019ll tell you. He isn\u2019t afraid to poke a man in the chest when it is needed, but he knows when to put an arm round you.\u201d<\/p>\n

All Blacks great: The notable \u2018messaging\u2019 from Dave Rennie as they prepare to face Springboks \u2018juggernaut\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

A surprising appointment<\/p>\n

On Saturday at a sold-out Ellis Park, Rennie faces the toughest Test yet of his coaching credentials: world champions South Africa, unbeaten in a year, at altitude, in the spiritual home of Springbok rugby.<\/p>\n

It would be an anxious moment for any coach, let alone one whose international playing experience amounted to one non-cap appearance for the Cook Islands.<\/p>\n

But Rennie does not conform to stereotype. Before coaching professional rugby, he not only taught PE in a school, he ran a pub which he named The Lonely Goatherd after the song from his favourite musical, The Sound of Music.<\/p>\n

He is a man who trusts his instincts, as shown by appointing Wilson co-skipper of Warriors despite the English-born back row\u2019s chequered disciplinary record.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were a few eyebrows raised, let\u2019s say,\u201d laughs Wilson, who was found guilty of punching a fellow player in a fast food shop in 2013 whilst dressed as Batman. \u201cI think everyone was like, hold on a minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Rens told me, even I was like, \u2018are you sure?\u2019 I\u2019d had my ups and downs, been through most experiences. But he knew what he was looking for. He wanted someone with a bit of experience in every sort of realm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he saw in me a guy that looked after the players off the field. Something I definitely learned under him is that five per cent of leadership is about the rugby. The other 95% is about being a good man and looking after the boys away from the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

When his time at Glasgow was abruptly ended by the coronavirus pandemic shutting down the world, Rennie spoke of his love both for the Scottish people and, in the land of square sausage and the deep-fried Mars bar, the food he was leaving behind.<\/p>\n

Such an impact did he have on those around him that he was not allowed to fly south without first being shown what he meant to his players.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Covid legislation was coming in and we were all being told we would not be able to do this and that,\u201d Wilson recalls. \u201cBut I said to Cally [co-captain Callum Gibbons], \u2018Listen, we can\u2019t let him go without giving him a farewell\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we chucked a few boxes of beer in the back of a car and headed up to Rens\u2019 house in Stirling. He lived under the Wallace Monument, a beautiful setting, and I remember the sun was out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere weren\u2019t many coaches, whilst I was playing, whose house I would have been comfortable just rocking up at unannounced, but we did exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the beers, the pair ordered 100 oysters, as they knew they were Rennie\u2019s favourite.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately the ones we ordered weren\u2019t ready in time,\u201d Wilson continues. \u201cSo we had a taxi deliver 100 more, all the way from Glasgow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sat outside, socially distanced, of course, slurping back the oysters, drinking beer on his balcony underneath the Wallace Monument.\u201d<\/p>\n

Springboks haven\u2019t got any \u2018negative feedback\u2019 from World Rugby as Rassie Erasmus and Jaco Peyper hit back at accusations<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cNine times out of 10 have the guitar out\u201d<\/p>\n

Since taking charge of the All Blacks, Rennie has won all six of his matches: three Nations Championship scalps followed by victories over three of South Africa\u2019s four URC franchises.<\/p>\n

They have earned respect for the way they have improved since an underwhelming start against the Stormers, ruthlessly putting the Sharks and Bulls to the sword.<\/p>\n

Nobody in the tourists\u2019 camp doubts that what is to come will be a completely different ball game, but Rennie has them relaxed as they approach the first of their dates with destiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t surprise me,\u201d says Wilson. \u201cWhat struck me most about Rens is the way he is able to separate the rugby from the off-field stuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what, whether it was a bollocking or whatever was required after the game, it was done in the changing room and then it was forgotten about.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as you got upstairs it was beer in hand. He\u2019d nine times out of 10 have the guitar out, and be the one singing away and connecting the boys that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had a few coaches where a bad result or performance would linger, where they\u2019d be pissed off in the changing room and then you could see it for the next couple of days.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Rens, you could get on with him after a game like a mate down the pub and he wouldn\u2019t even mention rugby, wouldn\u2019t talk about it. He had an amazing ability to park it and then Monday be right back to business.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0Ex-Springboks star centres weigh into Damian de Allende v Jordie Barrett battle as All Blacks standout has \u2018earned\u2019 best in the world \u2018right\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nine years before becoming head coach of New Zealand, a teacher with a guitar and a penchant for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":741867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[242,56076,348,3482,620,50,5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-741866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-features","tag-glasgow-warriors","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/741867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}