Rennie ‘gutted’ by Castle’s exit but he’s locked into Wallabies

Dave Rennie was urged to remain committed to Australia in a phone call from Raelene Castle even after she resigned.

New Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is locked into coming to Australia. Picture: Nikki Short

Dave Rennie was urged to remain committed to Australia in a phone call from Raelene Castle even after she resigned in news that “gutted” the new Wallabies coach.

If the sudden exit of his greatest advocate rocked him into reconsidering his post for a moment, Rennie wasn’t letting on in a strong confirmation of his plans from Glasgow.

The six-week suspension to world rugby has not been wasted by Rennie, who has been able to make a flying start to planning while his Glasgow Warriors have been in lockdown.

Rennie had made more than 40 calls to players of interest and coaches before Rugby Australia’s chief executive was pushed to resign last week.

“I’m really gutted at the decision to move Raelene on,” Rennie said in Glasgow.

“As I have stated all along, she’s a big part of the reason I decided to sign with Australia.

“I was really impressed with her. She had a real clear plan of what the next few years would look like.

“So I’m really disappointed. But she exited with real dignity and class and the first thing she said to me was she still wants me to go to Australia (on his three-and-half year deal).”

Rennie said he was “still very committed” and had spoken to the RA board as well as Director of Rugby Scott Johnson to get a clear idea of what the future now looked like.

Johnson gave a snapshot of all Rennie had put into his new role already even though he doesn’t officially start as Wallabies boss until late June.

“Dave’s a good man with good ethics and he wants to get it right so he’s been on the phone to me two or three times a week and more often with his assistant coaches (Matt Taylor and Scott Wisemantel) to go through planning,” Johnson said.

The common denominator for the Wallabies’ three new coaches was knowing Johnson so the unscripted break during the health crisis has enabled the trio to jell more and more.

“The three coaches have been able to get their footy philosophies out to each other and this break has also been really good for talking through ‘individual player plans’,” Johnson said.

Rennie has spoken to coaches Dan McKellar (Brumbies), Brad Thorn (Reds), Dave Wessels (Rebels) and Rob Penney (Waratahs) as they form a preliminary group of more than 35 players of national interest.

The Courier-Mail