Dave Rennie: All Blacks Coach on taking over from Scott Robertson, the new direction for the team
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What recent changes have occurred in New Zealand rugby leadership?
Now, New Zealand rugby's been very busy, hasn't it? New president, new CEO, and the coach has been back in the country this week making a few appointments of his own, the headline being the return of Graeme Henry, of course, as selector. So how are we tracking for kick-off in July? Dave Rennie is with us. Dave, a very good morning to you. Morning, Mike. You enjoying your time back in the country?
Yeah, loving it, actually. getting around a little bit and got to see the kids and the grandkids.
That's been great. Fantastic.
How is Dave Rennie adapting to his new role as All Blacks coach?
What's the feel in the job so far of what you thought you were going to do and what you've been able to do and how you're tracking?
I've been busy, obviously. I've got another job at the moment as well. So I've been able to get staff over to Japan and I've come over every bi-week and And then a lot of time on Zoom and so on. So we've got a lot of people beavering away and we're in a pretty good spot at the moment.
What word would you use for your appointment? Are you a changemaker? Are you a hurricane? Are you a gentle manipulator? What's going on here?
Yeah, I'm not sure of any of those points. Oh, look, I think I've mentioned I'm pretty good at surrounding myself with quality people and that's what I've been doing. And I think collectively, you know, we can make good shifts and I've got a plan over the next sort of 15 months heading into World Cup, which is pretty exciting.
The Razor thing, and I'm not dwelling on this, I'm just asking about Razor. We had David Kirk on and he said they didn't see the tracking of where the All Blacks were at in a way that they were happy with, despite the fact that in terms of sheer statistics, they were actually winning quite well. Do you have a grasp... of what's going on here, what Kirk wants, what the board wants, what New Zealand rugby wants, etc. And you've got a handle on it, in other words.
Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, I had a look at all the review stuff. I've spoken to a lot of people. I think we're really clear on the game that we want to play and the athlete will need to play that game. And so... But that's been our focus. And, you know, we've got a pretty short turnaround when we start. We've got about 10 days. The team assembles before France. So, you know, we need to keep things reasonably simple and build over the next few months.
What do I read into the Henry Noka appointments particularly? It's got a sort of a classic hits feel to it.
I mean, obviously, you know, Ted's a great man. an excellent eye. He's got a massive work ethic and he watches a lot of rugby. And talking to him prior to my appointment, I spoke to him a lot about, I just wanted to find out about legacy and leadership and what he experienced when he first came in and the highs and lows, which he experienced both. And so having someone from outside the group who's know got a real good feel for the game and and players uh is a really good fit for us and so um yeah yeah he brings a lot of experience and and uh excited about that i've just got off the far from ted um he was at the blues yesterday so um yeah so we've had plenty happening there and gilbert coming in uh you know there's i reckon it's an excellent appointment for us so just uh
a strong history with a legacy.
Yeah. The wider group which you inherit of players, no matter who you end up picking, as a group of potential top elite rugby players, where do you reckon the All Blacks are at in terms of a current crop?
Oh, I mean, I guess if you compared it in our heyday, we would have had six or seven players players featuring in a World 15, and we probably haven't got that number at the moment. But it is a younger crop. I think there's an enormous amount of talent in New Zealand. I've been really impressed getting around the country, the quality of the programs. I think the coaches are doing a great job, and there's a lot of really good young kids in behind the guys you're seeing playing as well. So, no, I still think New Zealand rugby's in good heart. We've got plenty of talent, and our job's going to be to
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