Why it’s a no-brainer for Dave Rennie to be named the next All Blacks coach
Thursday, 29 January 2026
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ANALYSIS: In January of 2023 Rugby Australia made an ill-fated decision that set them, their game and the Wallabies back several years, if not a decade. It is to be hoped New Zealand Rugby will not repeat that mistake.
It does not seem likely.
The Aussies, of course, sacked Dave Rennie as Wallabies coach when he was three years into a four-year contract, and World Cup cycle, and installed Eddie Jones as his replacement. It was a rash, poorly judged, ill-thought-through decision made, reportedly, by then chair Hamish McLennan for all the wrong reasons.
Rennie, at the time, had a 38% win record with the Wallabies, which McLennan touted as the chief reason for the need to bring in Jones. No coach in Wallabies history who had overseen more than 30 tests had plunged to such depths.
And, granted, Rennie had not had the results that he would have wanted with a team that was much-much better than those paltry numbers.
Read more:
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But anyone who knew anything about rugby realised at the time that Rennie, a canny coach with considerable nous and player connections, had been doing it tough, navigating, first, a tough schedule thrown up by the Covid pandemic and, then, a horror injury run that robbed him of anything resembling a full-strength lineup for long periods.
In fact, those same pundits and rugby diehards observed a Wallabies group on what turned out to be Rennie’s final tour with the team in 2022 making great strides, proving highly competitive and appearing to lay the foundations for something promising when frontliners returned.
On that tour just prior to his dismissal Rennie’s Wallabies defeated Scotland and Wales, and lost to France, Ireland and Italy by a combined five points. Even Mr Magoo would have realised the coach was making real progress, and building decent depth in the process.
Not Mr McLennan though, who could not wait to bring in his old mate, and the headline-grabbing, Jones to help him in his bid to raise the profile of Australian rugby in the country’s ever-crowded sporting market.
The Kiwi was an easy scapegoat for the former advertising guru.
It’s history now that Jones came in, oversaw a disastrous Wallabies World Cup campaign in which they were beaten by Fiji, thumped by Wales and failed to make it out of their group for the first time in history. Jones, mired in controversy throughout his short second tenure in the job, lost nine of his 11 tests that year, with his only victories being over Georgia and Portugal at the Cup. That’s an 18% winning record.
Anyways, that was then. And this is now.
Rennie is now, by definition, and most people’s estimation, a leading contender to fill the coaching vacancy created by Scott Robertson’s shock sacking as All Blacks coach.
There is a lot to fix in an All Blacks environment that has, by all accounts, fallen apart during Robertson’s two years in the top job. The players, at least, believe so, leading the charge in a dire 2025 review that left New Zealand Rugby with no choice, in their view, than to wield the axe.
Since then, NZR has revealed the criteria for Robertson’s successor whom they are currently searching for. The guts of that is that he has to be a New Zealander and has to have had international head coaching experience.
That narrowed the field down significantly. The long-list has also been further reduced by the confirmed unavailability of Tony Brown (committed to the Boks through the ‘27 World Cup). Joe Schmidt (not keen) and Vern Cotter (off to sunny Queensland).
So, who’s left? Well, Rennie, currently coaching in Japan (for Kobe Steelers) and conveniently off contract in June.
Jamie Joseph, too. Though as much as the former All Blacks hardman and Japan head coach might appeal to some with southern roots, the truth is he is not the same force as a coach without Brown by his side. Most everyone realises that.
Other names come up, such as Warren Gatland, Wayne Pivac and Robbie Deans, but they all have a yesterday’s man feel to them. Todd Blackadder is there in Japan, too, but would be a big punt at a time when NZR must play it safe in an abbreviated run to the global tournament.
Everything suggests Rennie is the answer, and sometimes if it looks like a duck, waddles like a duck, quacks like a duck … it flaming well is a duck.
The guy has experience (he’s been coaching far and wide since 1999), a proven ability to create a winning culture (the Chiefs won both their titles under his watch) and has the experience, nous and ability to turn things round in an All Blacks environment that feels like it just needs a strong communicator in charge who connects well with the players.
As much as there’s a certain romance about putting Joseph, and his old-school approach, in charge, every piece of common-sense suggests Rennie is the man to turn the All Blacks ship around. And remind the Aussies how wrong they got it in the process.