Wallabies coach Dave Rennie might go after 2023 Rugby World Cup

Dave Rennie is intent on doing the best job he can as Wallabies coach but that might entail him stepping down after the World Cup.

Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie: ‘If there is someone ready to go after the World Cup, that may be in the best interests of Australian rugby.’

Dave Rennie is intent on doing the best job he possibly can for Australia as Wallabies coach but that may entail him surrendering his position following the 2023 World Cup, he said on Sunday.

He is expected to fly to Australia from New Zealand this week, flights permitting, and then will go into lockdown for essentially a third time, having spent three months cooped up at home in Glasgow following the suspension of the Pro14 series, then another fortnight on his arrival in Auckland and now – despite the fact that life has gone back to normal in New Zealand – when he lands in Queensland. Still, he is remarkably phlegmatic about it all.

Super Rugby returns! Watch every game of Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa Live & On-Demand on Kayo. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly

He is aware that his brief is not only to lift Australia from its current world ranking of seventh back to a more acceptable level – somewhere in the top three, for example – but also to groom his successor.

So when asked on Sunday if he was reporting for duty expecting to be here until the 2027 World Cup, he was just a little equivocal.

“I’m not certain around that,” Rennie told The Australian from New Zealand. “I’m fully committed and I want to make a difference and we have a lot of good people involved already.

“The ideal scenario is that the next coach is Australian and there needs to be some thought around that. If there is someone ready to go after the World Cup, that may be in the best interests of Australian rugby.

“You can’t think too far ahead in this game. I’m fully committed to the World Cup but what happens beyond that … there has to be an emphasis around identifying and developing other coaches to coach Australia.”

Given that the jungle drums already seem to have identified Dan McKellar of the Brumbies as the man most likely to replace him, that would seem to be that.

Still, as Rennie himself said, you can’t think too far ahead in the coaching game and it’s fair to say that if he takes Australia to its third World Cup title in 2023, or even if the Wallabies reach the final, he could well be asked to stay on in the job.

All will be revealed, as they say. But, right here and now, things are looking relatively rosy, which is far more than could be said a week ago. Was it any wonder New Zealand took a fairly condescending tone with Australian rugby in its 2021 competition announcement last week after what was displayed two weekends ago?

The Rebels-Reds game was embarrassing and the Waratahs-Western Force match wasn’t appreciably better. And what made it worse was that it followed hard on the heels of the Crusaders-Blues match in NZ, which was played at Test match intensity.

But then came the rollicking Reds-Force match on Friday, followed by the riveting Brumbies-Tahs on Saturday, and instantly Australian rugby was looking a whole lot healthier.

“I agree,” Rennie said. “The games this weekend (saw a) much better brand of footy, and better continuity and I think everyone is adjusting. They have been out of full contact for three months so it takes a bit of time.”

The Brumbies are developing that Crusaders-like spirit of being able to win the close ones but the Tahs too stood tall.

“They had a good blend of youth and experience on the field last night and I agree it was their best performance (of the season). But they will be disappointed because they had a chance to win that one last night,” Rennie said.

All through Super Rugby and now through Super Rugby AU, Rennie and his assistant coaches have convened each week to pick two Australian teams – one chosen from form displayed on that weekend’s form, the other the 23 they would select if they were playing the All Blacks. So, he was asked, could they get the job done against New Zealand.

Rennie gave a good-natured laugh, as if I had been saving up that question to catch him out.

Australia, he said, was three matches into its competition, New Zealand was into Round 6. So things would continue to improve.

“We’ve got to go in with the mindset that we can knock them over, regardless of when that is. Again it is a good blend of experienced guys who are playing good footy at the moment and some really good kids coming through. It is exciting from our perspective and we are all keen to get on the grass and do a bit of coaching but we may have to wait a while.”

One criticism he was comfortable making. Australian players need to be fitter.

“I’ve mentioned this before but this is the edge where the NZ teams are very fit, all five of them. They win a lot of games late.

“You defend and defend for multiple phases and then they sting you as a team when they get a turnover. That has been a real trait of Kiwi sides.

“We are putting a real emphasis on being fitter, being more explosive and powerful, around skills sets where we want to play and the rest of rugby nous.”

He gave little away in terms of how he viewed the make-up of the Australian side or whether he intended on bringing players back from overseas.

He did admit that the depth in the second-row department was “thinner” than elsewhere and that he was keeping “a close eye” on the man who might well end up running his lineout, Rob Simmons.

“He is working really hard which is always good to see. Someone who is as experienced as him, having played 100 Tests, and is still trying to be better.”

Watching from afar, Rennie has been appreciative of the Brumbies and Tahs for starting promising young “kids” such as Noah Lolesio and Will Harrison at five-eighth.

“There is a lot to like about both these young boys,” he noted. That said, at the other end of the experience scale, the Rebels’ Matt Toomua and James O’Connor of the Reds, were providing a nice counter-balance.

The Dave Rennie era is about to begin. But first, a cleansing dose of isolation.