Dave Rennie turns down Kiwi Super Rugby side leaving them scrambling
Former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has reportedly turned down a potential return to New Zealand as he mulls his next career decision after being abruptly let go by Rugby Australia late last year.
Newshub reports that the Blues approached Rennie with a lucrative deal to takeover in 2024 from Leon Macdonald, who is expected to join Scott Robertson's coaching staff with the All Blacks.
The two-time Super Rugby champion coach is weighing up a move to Japan instead to link with former Chiefs mentor Wayne Smith.
Smith, who was an assistant under Rennie at the Chiefs, is the Director of Rugby at Kobelco Kobe Steelers in Japan Rugby League One.
The Steelers have attracted big names out of New Zealand since Smith arrived, landing All Blacks Dan Carter, Ben Smith, Brodie Retallick, and Aaron Cruden in recent years.
Retallick is heading back to the club following the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, and Rennie could join as the club's head coach.
The Blues are resigned to losing Macdonald according to the report and are scrambling to find a quality replacement which led them to approach Rennie.
Robertson's new All Black coaching staff will potentially drain New Zealand's Super Rugby teams of coaches with Hurricanes head coach Jason Holland also believed to be in the mix along with Macdonald.
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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