Springboks beware: Dave Rennie will bring back belief to the All Blacks
Wednesday, 4 March 2026
ANALYSIS: A day before Dave Rennie was announced as the new All Blacks coach, Tony Brown was doing his Springboks media duties in South Africa and fired off a warning to the locals.
“Whoever gets the job, I can guarantee you the All Blacks will be very good this year,” Brown said of Rennie and Jamie Joseph.
Brown has a long history with Joseph, of course, but his comments were also an indication of the respect that Rennie holds within the game.
In fact, Rennie and Brown are looked after by the same coaching super-agent, Duncan Sandlant, and it would be no surprise to see them work together at the All Blacks after the 2027 Rugby World Cup if the cards fall that way.
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As The Post has previously reported, Brown’s desire to coach the All Blacks one day does not depend on whether Joseph is head coach.
The respect with which Rennie is held has been accumulated over many years.
Even in the weeks before Wednesday’s announcement high-ranking people within Highlanders HQ were telling The Post that the 62-year-old was both a great coach and a great person.
It is that combination of rugby intelligence and empathy that will improve the All Blacks when Rennie arrives at the end of the Japan Rugby League One season.
In short, it will put them back in the game after two years punctuated by inconsistent All Blacks performances and Scott Robertson’s unique communications style that, over time, began to feel less and less attached to reality of how they were performing.
There will be none of that lack of clarity from Rennie and there is already one significant difference from his Wallabies reign - the relationship with his chair.
Given David Kirk’s high involvement in both the process to replace Robertson and appoint Rennie, it is fair to assume that the new chair-coach connection is already far stronger and more genuine than the one Rennie had with former Rugby Australia chair Hamish McLennan, who was not in charge when Rennie was appointed Wallabies coach and who later replaced him with Eddie Jones.
There is also an anecdote that sums up what Rennie will bring to the All Blacks.
Back in 2013 or 2014, I observed Rennie at a Chiefs fans day. One family presented with him with a Chiefs jersey to sign as they were going to send it to a rugby-playing nephew in Perth.
Their motivation was that “they didn’t want him to turn into another Quade Cooper”, the Waikato-born No 10 who went on to play for the Wallabies.
At that time, Cooper was still persona non grata in New Zealand, so the door was open for Rennie to have a cheap shot at his expense.
He didn’t. He dealt with the request with good humour but still put some respect on Cooper’s name.
About 10 years later, Cooper kicked the winning penalty for Rennie as the Wallabies beat the Springboks.
It was a great example of the value of treating people well and doing the right thing even when no one is looking.
That’s what the All Blacks players are getting with Rennie. The playing group still has holes in it and test rugby is highly competitive and challenging, but Rennie is a smart and worldly coach who will bring people along with him.