Dave Rennie pushing hard for scrum coach Petrus du Plessis

Dave Rennie has confirmed he is pushing hard to have his former Glasgow Warriors colleague Petrus du Plessis brought on as his scrum coach.

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie holds a media conference on the Gold Coast on Friday. Picture: Getty Images

Dave Rennie has confirmed he is pushing hard to have his former Glasgow Warriors colleague Petrus du Plessis brought on as his scrum coach, with Rugby Australia seemingly well aware the Wallabies head coach has selected no other members of his coaching team.

There have been no complaints from Rennie over the fact all other members of his coaching staff, Scott Wisemantel, Matt Taylor and — though it has not been officially confirmed yet — Brumbies coach Dan McKellar, were all hand-picked for him by close friend Scott Johnson, Rugby Australia’s director of rugby.

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Still, while he is only now getting personally acquainted with them after months of communicating by Zoom conference calls while serving three periods of quarantine in Britain, New Zealand and Australia, there is also a belief within sections of Rugby Australia that he should be allowed a “captain’s pick” of at least one staff member.

That said, the world is in the grip of a pandemic, RA’s finances have taken an unprecedented battering and even if the game could somehow afford to recruit du Plessis, there is the logistical nightmare of getting the South African to Australia. Increasingly, it looks like being pushed into the too-hard basket although Rennie, in his first press conference since taking up residence on the Gold Coast this week, was pushing hard for his appointment to go ahead.

“I’ve worked with Petrus, South African extract, played a lot of rugby for Saracens, London Irish, did a bit of coaching there and the last couple of years he’s coached up in Glasgow,” Rennie said. “We’ve thrown him on the field a couple of times when we’ve been under pressure but (he’s) coached in Glasgow for a couple of seasons.

“He’s excellent. Outstanding, qualified physio, been involved in strategy … He is really innovative and he’s such a good man.

“Just really passionate about scrums. Often he‘d be training with us (in Glasgow) and run off to a coaching thing at Aberdeen a couple of hours away drive, so he’s passionate about it and his role. If we get it across the line, would be more than just (useful to) the Wallabies. Getting around the country and national sides and so on.

“It’d be great if we can get it over the line.”

While debate continues over whether Australia should go it alone next year if New Zealand digs in its heels and refuses to allow all five Australians teams in a joint 2021 competition, Rennie insisted on Friday that a trans-Tasman series was “important for both countries”.

“Obviously there is talk about four sides from here or maybe five sides from here … the thing I like about having five teams from an Aussie perspective is that it is a great opportunity for our young kids to get involved in professional footy and get that experience. The less teams we have the less opportunities for those guys.

“You could argue that when Australia had success it only had three sides and three really strong teams but if you are looking long term there is a lot of competition (from AFL and the NRL) and American leagues are starting up and a lot of players are getting picked up to go there so we need to find opportunities for guys to stay here in professional rugby.”

While keeping his comments deliberately vague about his playing style, Rennie indicated that Australians wouldn’t be disappointed with how the Wallabies perform under him.

“The teams I coach, play. We want to use the ball. But there is a lot of research gone into this. It’s not just going wide. Defence has improved heaps over the last decade and often teams have 13 or 14 (players) in the front line.

“We want to play an attractive brand of footy but if all you are doing is throwing the ball around, the opposition is going to build a wall in front of you.”