‘I was desperate to stay’: Winless Waratahs sack Penney

NSW Waratahs coach Rob Penney’s Super Rugby contract has been terminated, effective immediately.

After five losses to begin the Super Rugby AU season, to go with an overall record of five victories from 19 matches in charge since the beginning of 2020, the NSW Rugby board determined on Sunday that Penney’s position was untenable despite more than half of his contract remaining.

Waratahs coach Rob Penney has been sacked. Credit: Getty

After Saturday’s 46-14 loss to the Queensland Reds, NSW Rugby chief executive Paul Doorn and a high-performance committee made a formal recommendation to the board that Penney’s contract be torn up.

The organisation acknowledged Penney was coaching an inexperienced group of players, relative to other teams, but did not feel any “significant improvement” had been made in recent weeks.

In late 2019, Penney signed a three-year deal that expired at the end of 2022 but a number of heavy and embarrassing defeats proved too much for the board.

“My only comment at this point is I was desperate to stay and be part of the rebuild,” Penney told the Herald on Sunday.

The NSW board met on Sunday morning and Penney was informed shortly after that he had lost his job.

“Upon examination of our results this year, with the five losses to date and three of them being record losses, but also following on from last year’s team performances, the board made the decision that clearly hasn’t met the standards of our organisation,” Doorn told the Herald. “As a result, we’ve made the decision to terminate Rob as head coach for his accountability in that on-field performance.

“The decision was based after a review of last night’s game.”

Doorn said Penney won’t receive a full payout but noted that a confidential settlement had been agreed by both parties.

“Rob is the consummate professional,” Doorn said. “This is devastating news for him. To his credit, in many ways based off conversations we’ve had previously leading up to this point, it wasn’t a dramatic surprise. He is bitterly disappointed that he can’t continue to fight with the squad he has. He appreciates the organisation’s rationale for making the decisions that are made.”

The Waratahs have lost all five matches of their Super Rugby AU campaign.Credit: Getty

NSW assistants Chris Whitaker and Jason Gilmore have been named interim coaches for the rest of the season.

The pair will take over from Monday morning, with Doorn saying a new head coach won’t take over until 2022.

“Our No.1 priority is working with the playing group on the interim strategy,” Doorn said.

“If we’re going to make this decision, you have to also provide the opportunity to give the interim solution an opportunity for the last remaining Super Rugby AU games and then look forward into what it might mean for Super Rugby Trans-Tasman. There’s still weeks to play.”

The Waratahs have suffered record defeats this year to the Reds (41-7), Brumbies (61-10) and Melbourne Rebels (33-14). On Saturday, the Waratahs conceded the franchise’s most-ever points in a Super Rugby match against the Reds (46).

On March 10, before the most recent Rebels and Reds losses, chairman Roger Davis said any talk of cutting Penney was “a long way away”.

Asked why there had been a change of heart, Doorn said: “This is an ongoing cumulative impact of things. Clearly the advice the chairman might have said previously, the coach had our full support, and he did. We kept providing resources and opportunities for Rob but in the end when we sat down after last night’s game and looked at the total of this year and last year and what was ahead, it was important for us to make that decision.”

Davis has been at the helm since 2012 and has been under fire given the Waratahs’ alarming decline in recent seasons and questionable roster management decisions under his watch.

Asked whether any of the current crisis was the fault of the chairman or the board, Doorn said: “Anyone who works in the organisation has a level of responsibility. All of us have been on a process of thinking how can we do things differently going forward.

“As the CEO it has been a challenging 14 months but I still stand resolute in the sense there is a magnificent future ahead of us. We’ve got an amazing group of young players, or inexperienced players, that are phenomenal.”

Doorn defended the organisation’s decision to spend cautiously over the off-season in terms of player contracts when other franchises spent more of their salary cap, despite a broadcast deal not being signed at the time.

“I don’t think we can regret it to be honest because … we had to live within our own means,” Doorn said. “We know the head coach and the board were all included in the discussion around what that meant for our squad and roster this year.”

Sport newsletter

Sports news, results and expert commentary delivered straight to your inbox each weekday. Sign up here.