Dave Rennie: New All Blacks coach ahead of his first test at the helm against France
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What are Dave Rennie's thoughts on starting his coaching tenure?
to the kickoff of another all-black season. Of course, new stadium, new team, new coach, new everything. Dave Rennie is back with us. Dave, very good morning to you. Yeah, morning Mike. Just from your personal point of view this week, it's your game now, your job, your decisions, your, you know, all of that. How's that felt for you?
Oh, it's been good. I mean, this season more than me making decisions here, but got a good group around me and It's been awesome. We've had a great week together so far and looking forward to tomorrow.
Have you been thinking much about the All Blacks start slowly generally at the beginning of a season thing or not?
We've been really focused on the type of game we want to play and I think all teams around, historically with New Zealand teams, you have a short run and so we've tried to keep it simple but We want to start well and we've got a great stadium and a dry board to do that.
You're not thinking about the weather anymore so that's interesting. You've got the Fizz of Christchurch, the Fizz of a new stadium. Has that played into the whole week?
I reckon it has. There's a lot of excitement down here. There hasn't been test rugby here for a number of years and And, you know, the stadium's really kept off the rejuvenation of the city, and so, yeah, there's a lot of excitement and heaps of tourists coming in, which will bring a few dollars to the community.
It's a bit like Dunedin, that stadium, in the sense, does it make any difference to you? The crowd's right there. I mean, the feel of the stadium's different, isn't it?
Yeah, it is awesome. We trained here yesterday, and it's really high. It's right on top of the field, and Yeah, I'd imagine it's going to be pretty noisy.
Yeah. The changes, I don't want to dwell on the team because we can argue about that until we're blue in the face, but in your mind, do you have a quality of choice? In other words, there are plenty of people to choose from that you'd be happy with.
How does Dave Rennie plan to address the All Blacks' slow starts?
Yep, yep, definitely. The whole group we've got here, 34 boys have trained well. Yeah, we've picked this combination. We'll use a number of players this year, we think, especially going to Africa and playing a lot of games there. So yeah, it's tough. We left out some good people, but very, very comfortable with the group we've picked.
Good. That South Africa thing, that tour, it seems big, doesn't it? I mean, it's almost like an old-fashioned tour by the time you take it in totality.
Yeah, it's going to be awesome. Very tough and challenging, but we're going to learn a lot about ourselves and Yeah, we've got six weeks. We've got a captured audience to really drill on culture and our game. And a nice thing is everyone gets to play on those tours. You've got midweek games and so I think that's really good for the squad.
The lack of French talent, how much has that been part of your thinking?
There's no lack of French talent. They come from the strongest comp in the world and I guess that's the advantage in France. They pay a lot of money there and so the best players French players play in France, and you'd imagine if all the best Kiwis in the world were playing in New Zealand. So, yeah, I mean, Bordeaux are the European champions. They've brought 11 guys from that team, and so, yeah, they're missing guys from Tuhus, but, yeah, they've got 28 professional sides to pick from, so... It doesn't matter who they turn up with, they'll be very good.
This Nations Championship, it's all part of now and then November and it's France, it's Italy, etc. Do you think about that as a thing or is it just France in front of you tomorrow?
Yeah, it's only France. I mean, the final of that comp seems so far away and So that's our focus, but it's an interesting challenge for the European teams this year because normally they come down and play New Zealand three times or Australia three times, and now they've got to travel like we would at the end of the year. So I like the concept.
Good. And so France, Italy, Ireland, is that a nice selection of challenges and talents before you head to Africa?
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