Dave Rennie

Dave Rennie

Full name	David Noel Rennie
Date of birth	(1963-11-22) 22 November 1963 (age 60)
Place of birth	Upper Hutt, New Zealand
Height	189 cm (6 ft 2 in)
School	Heretaunga College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre, Wing Senior career Years Team Apps (Points) 1986–1991 Wellington 58 (60) Correct as of 20 November 2019 International career Years Team Apps (Points) 1990 Cook Islands XV 1 (0) Correct as of 9 October 2021 Coaching career Years Team 1999 Wellington (assistant) 2000–2002 Wellington 2002 Hurricanes (assistant) 2006–2011 Manawatu 2008–2010 New Zealand U20 2012–2017 Chiefs 2017–2020 Glasgow Warriors 2020–2023 Australia 2021 Barbarians 2023– Kobe Steelers

Dave Rennie (born 22 November 1963) is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player. He will take over the Kobe Steelers as head coach for the 2023-24 season. He previously was the head coach of the Australia national rugby union team from 2020 to 2023, having previously coached New Zealand sides the Chiefs, Manawatu, Wellington, the New Zealand U20, as well as in Scotland, with Glasgow Warriors from 2017 to 2020. Rennie's playing position was Centre. ^[1] In November 2019 he was named the head coach of the Australian national team until being sacked in January 2023.

Rugby union playing career

Amateur and provincial

Rennie played with Upper Hutt RFC in Wellington, New Zealand. ^[2] He finished playing early at 27 due to a recurring shoulder injury. ^[1]

Rennie played with the Wellington Lions. He won the NPC title with the Lions in 1986. Later as head coach he guided the team to their next NPC title 14 years later in 2000.

International

Rennie's mother was from Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, and thus Rennie was eligible for the Cook Islands national rugby union team. ^[3] He played for the Cook Islands national rugby union team for one game in 1990, but it was a non-capped match. ^[4]

Rugby union coaching career

Rennie has been described as "hard-nosed, doesn't tolerate fools, is astute and has a deep rugby intelligence." ^[5]

Dave is a world class coach and the results on the field speak for themselves. He enjoys huge respect from players and fans, and right across the rugby community.

— Steve Tew, New Zealand Rugby chief executive ^[6]

Early coaching career

After playing for the amateur side Rennie then coached Upper Hutt RFC. ^[7]

Wellington Lions

He became the assistant coach of the Wellington Lions in 1999 before becoming head coach in 2000. In his first year as the head coach, he led the Wellington Lions to their first NPC title since 1986. ^[8] He stayed with the Lions until 2002.

Hurricanes

Rennie became first the Hurricanes Under 23 head coach and then the assistant coach of the Hurricanes.

Rennie also coached at the New Zealand international academy.

Manawatu

Originally a short-term contract, ^[6] Rennie was the coach of the Manawatu Turbos in the ITM Cup from 2005 to 2011. Under Rennie the Turbos were Championship Runner-up in the 2011 ITM Cup.

New Zealand U20

Rennie was coach of the New Zealand national under-20 rugby union team and the team won three consecutive World titles from 2008 to 2010. ^[9]

Chiefs

He joined the Chiefs for the 2012 season and led them to their first ever Super Rugby title. ^[10] In doing so Rennie became the first first-year Super Rugby coach to win a Super Rugby title

The day of the final itself proved highly eventful. As Rennie guided the Chiefs to a 37–6 win over the Sharks, his house was robbed and valuables were stolen. A similar opportunist theft had occurred to Chiefs player Sonny Bill Williams several weeks earlier. ^[11]

He coached the Chiefs to their second straight Super Rugby title in the 2013 season, beating the Brumbies. Rennie's "rookie" streak was only superseded by Scott Robertson in 2019, who won six successive titles in his first three seasons as head coach of the Crusaders from 2017, winning in his rookie year, then again in 2018 - 2022.

Rennie's coaching record at the Chiefs was:

• 2012: 16 matches in round robin for 12 wins, 4 losses and points scored were 444 for & 358 against. The Chiefs won the semi-final versus the Crusaders 20–17 and the final against the Sharks 37–6.
• 2013: 16–12–0–4, points 458–364. Wins in semi final versus the Crusaders 20–19 and final against the Brumbies 27–22.
• 2014: 16–8–2–6, points 384–378. Placed 2nd in New Zealand conference and 5th overall. Lost quarter final 30–32 versus the Brumbies at Canberra.
• 2015: 16–10–0–6, points 372–299. Placed 5th. Lost quarter final against the Highlanders.
• 2016: 15–11–0–4, points 491–341. Placed 6th. Won quarter final 60–21 versus the Stormers but lost the semifinal against the Hurricanes 9–25.
• 2017: 15–12–1–2, points 433–293. Placed 5th. Won quarter final versus the Sharks 17–11 but lost the semi-final 13–27 against the Crusaders.

Glasgow Warriors

On 19 August 2016, Glasgow Warriors announced that Rennie would replace Gregor Townsend as head coach for the 2017–18 season. ^[12] Under Townsend, Warriors were a top Pro12 side; they reached the play-offs in every year of his charge – except his last; where he guided the Warriors to their first European Champions Cup Quarter-Final. Townsend won the Pro12 title with Glasgow Warriors in 2015. ^[13]

In Rennie's first season, Glasgow Warriors made the Pro14 semi-finals, but the side was beaten at Scotstoun Stadium by the Scarlets. ^[14] In the European Champions Cup they finished bottom of their pool. ^[15]

For the 2018–19 season, Glasgow Warriors reached the Pro14 final at Celtic Park in Glasgow. A large home-based Warriors support gave the Pro14 its biggest ever attendance for a final. Despite this Leinster capitalised on a Stuart Hogg error and ground out the match to win the title. In the European Champions Cup, Glasgow Warriors qualified out of the pool stages to meet Saracens in the quarter final. Having run Saracens very close at home; and matched them until the final quarter of the away pool match – Scottish hopes were raised for the quarter-final in London. ^[16] However Saracens saved their best performance for that match and then went on to win the European title. ^[17]

After a coronavirus curtailed season in the 2019–20 season, Glasgow Warriors were in the 3rd place of their conference; which would have normally secured a place in the play-off finals to determine the Pro14 champion. Danny Wilson took over the head coach role on 1 June 2020. On leaving Rennie said: “It’s been good for me. I was keen to experience a different culture and a different type of footie. Rugby goes forever up here, the seasons roll into one, so you have to be very detailed around your planning. Around the international commitments you lose players for big chunks of time so you have to bring through young kids and manage a much bigger squad." ^[18] Of Glasgow Warriors and Scotland he concluded: ""But it's the people I'll miss. A lot of it comes back to laughter. The Scottish are funny people and I haven't laughed as much in any environment as much as I have in my time here. I've travelled all over Scotland and had a decent look at various things. My grandfather was born in Stranraer so we spent a bit of time down there. We went up to Skye and went to Oban and went to this seafood restaurant right on the water and it was as good as any seafood I've ever tasted. I've loved the food, I've loved the people and I've loved our time here. It's been special, we'll miss it." ^[19]

Wallabies

On 20 November 2019, Rugby Australia announced that Rennie would replace Michael Cheika as head coach of the Wallabies. ^[20]

On 12th November 2022, Under pressure coach Dave Rennie defended making mass changes to his team after the Wallabies were stunned in a historic first loss (28-27) to Italy in Florence. ^[21]

On 16th January 2023, Rugby Australia announced that Rennie would be replaced by Eddie Jones. ^{[22] [23] [24]}

Kobe Steelers

It was announced that Rennie would take over the Kobe Steelers in Japan for the season 2023-24. ^[25] With him as assistant will be Mike Blair, previously a head coach of Edinburgh Rugby and who was an assistant coach under Rennie at Glasgow Warriors. ^[26]

Statistics

International matches as head coach

Note: World Rankings Column shows the World Ranking Australia was placed at on the following Monday after each of their matches

Matches (2020–present)
Match	Date	Opposition	Venue	Score (AUS first)	Competition	Captain	World Ranking
2020
1	11 October	New Zealand	Sky Stadium, Wellington	16–16	Bledisloe Cup 2020	Michael Hooper	5th
2	18 October		Eden Park, Auckland	7–27			5th
3	31 October		ANZ Stadium, Sydney	5–43	2020 Tri Nations Series		6th
4	7 November		Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	24–22			6th
5	21 November	Argentina	McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle	15–15			6th
6	5 December		Bankwest Stadium, Sydney	16–16			6th
2021
7	7 July	France	Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	23–21	2021 France tour of Australia	Michael Hooper	5th
8	13 July		Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, Melbourne	26–28			6th
9	17 July		Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane	33–30			6th
10	7 August	New Zealand	Eden Park, Auckland	25–33	Bledisloe Cup 2021		6th
11	14 August			22–57	2021 Rugby Championship		7th
12	5 September		Optus Stadium, Perth	21–38			7th
13	12 September	South Africa	Robina Stadium, Gold Coast	28–26			5th
14	18 September		North Queensland Stadium, Townsville	30–17			3rd
15	26 September	Argentina		27–8			3rd
16	2 October		Robina Stadium, Gold Coast	32–17			3rd
17	23 October	Japan	Oita Stadium, Oita	32–23	2021 end-of-year rugby union internationals		3rd
18	7 November	Scotland	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh	13–15			3rd
19	13 November	England	Twickenham Stadium, London	15–32			5th
20	20 November	Wales	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	28–29		James Slipper	6th
2022
21	2 July	England	Optus Stadium, Perth	30–28	2022 England tour of Australia	Michael Hooper	5th
22	9 July		Lang Park, Brisbane	17–25			6th
23	16 July		Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney	17–21			6th
24	6 August	Argentina	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Mendoza	41–26	2022 Rugby Championship	James Slipper [27]	9th
25	13 August		San Juan Bicentenario, San Juan	17–48
26	27 August	South Africa	Adelaide Oval, Adelaide	25–17		James Slipper
27	3 September		Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	8–24
28	15 September	New Zealand	Docklands Stadium, Melbourne	37–39
29	24 September		Eden Park, Auckland	14–40
30	30 October	Scotland	Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh	16–15	2022 end-of-year rugby union internationals	James Slipper	6th
31	6 November	France	Stade de France, Paris	29–30			7th
32	12 November	Italy	Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence	27–28		Allan Ala'alatoa	9th
33	20 November	Ireland	Aviva Stadium, Dublin	10–13		James Slipper	8th
34	27 November	Wales	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	39–34			6th

Record by country

Opponent	Played	Won	Drew	Lost	Win %	Pts For	Against
Argentina	6	3	2	1	050.00	90	56
England	4	1	0	3	025.00	86	94
France	4	2	0	2	050.00	111	109
Japan	1	1	0	0	100.00	32	23
New Zealand	9	1	1	7	011.11	171	293
Scotland	2	1	0	1	050.00	29	30
South Africa	4	3	0	1	075.00	66	67
Wales	2	1	0	1	050.00	67	63
Italy	1	0	0	1	000.00	27	28
Ireland	1	0	0	1	000.00	10	13
TOTAL	34	13	3	18	038.24	638	729
Updated: 27 November 2022

Honours

• The Rugby Championship
  • Runner-up: 2021
• Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate
  • Winner: 2021, 2022
• Puma Trophy
  • Winner: 2020, 2021, 2022
• Trophée des Bicentenaires
  • Winner: 2021
• Hopetoun Cup
  • Winner: 2022
• James Bevan Trophy
  • Winner: 2022

Outside rugby

Rennie was a school teacher in Upper Hutt. ^[28] He taught to 12 and 13 year olds: 'intermediate', between primary and secondary education. ^[1] In comparing his former job of teaching with coaching rugby union, Rennie said: "Teaching, coaching, it's the same thing. The kids are just a bit bigger." ^[28]

While coaching Upper Hutt RFC at amateur level, Rennie owned and ran a pub called the Lonely Goat Herd in Upper Hutt, Wellington. ^[2]

Rennie plays guitar and also enjoys landscape gardening. ^{[6] [1]}

References

1. "The lowdown on Dave Rennie, the next Glasgow Warriors coach". 19 August 2016.
2. "From humble club roots, Chris Boyd and Dave Rennie share common coaching path". Stuff. 15 May 2015.
3. "High hopes for Dave Rennie". 18 August 2020.
4. "Dates confirmed for Cook Islands tour of Americas". ARN. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
5. "All Blacks: Midas touch Dave Rennie puts a cat among All Blacks coaching pigeons". Stuff. 31 October 2019.
6. "Chiefs chat: Dave Rennie – the good fella - Fitness Journal". 5 February 2015.
7. "Rugby; Upper Hutt premier rugby coach and new Wellington Lions NPC assistant coach Dave Rennie". Upper Hutt City Library.
8. "David Rennie (2000–2002)". Wellington Rugby. Archived from the original on 7 February 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
9. "Dave Rennie - Coach Extraordinaire". Manawatu Rugby. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
10. "Relentless Chiefs run away with title". New Zealand Herald. 4 August 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
11. "Burglars spoil Chiefs' win". Sport24. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
12. "Chiefs coach Dave Rennie to be new head coach - Glasgow Warriors". www.glasgowwarriors.org. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
13. "Munster Rugby v Glasgow Warriors Highlights – GUINNESS PRO12 Final 2014/15" – via www.youtube.com.
14. "Glasgow Warriors V Scarlets". Glasgow Warriors.
15. "Glasgow Warriors V Exeter Chiefs". Glasgow Warriors.
16. "Saracens V Glasgow Warriors". Glasgow Warriors.
17. Cleary, Mick; Richardson, Charles (11 May 2019). "Saracens beat Leinster to win a record third European crown". The Telegraph– via www.telegraph.co.uk.
18. "News, Scores, Results, Features". 29 May 2020.
19. "Dave Rennie: Glasgow Warriors coach says reign has been 'special'". BBC Sport. 29 May 2020.
20. "Wallabies win "significant fight" for Rennie's services, confident the Kiwi will prove his passion for Australian rugby". rugby.com.au. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
21. "Rennie's 'poor coaching' ripped after shock loss".
22. "Cold-blooded way Rugby Australia axed Dave Rennie after three years". Fox Sports. 16 January 2023.
23. Reason, Mark (18 January 2023). "The shallow shame of Rugby Australia and its sacking of Dave Rennie". The Sydney Morning Herald.
24. "Rugby: Dave Rennie sacked as Wallabies head coach less than eight months out from 2023 World Cup, Eddie Jones to take over" – via www.newshub.co.nz.
25. "Former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie makes decision over future". www.rugbypass.com. 26 May 2023.
26. "Blair to join Rennie in Japan with Kobe Steelers" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
27. Payten, Iain (6 August 2022). "Hooper leaves Wallabies tour for break after admitting 'mindset' struggle". Sydney Morning Herald.
28. "Chiefs coach Dave Rennie 'the salt of the earth'". Stuff. 3 November 2013.

External links

• Dave Rennie Profile
• International Rugby Academy Profile

Preceded by Michael Cheika	Australian national rugby union coach 2019–2023	Succeeded by Eddie Jones