All Blacks legend urges NZ Rugby to ‘challenge’ Dave Rennie after Ian Foster and Scott Robertson failures

Former All Blacks star Justin Marshall says that it’s vital Dave Rennie does not endure the same coaching upheaval as his predecessors.

The 62-year-old has been appointed as the New Zealand head coach following the decision to sack Scott Robertson in January.

Robertson endured mixed success on the field, but his chances of succeeding were not helped by the issues he endured behind the scenes.

He saw two members of the backroom team depart with Leon MacDonald the first to go after just a few games in 2024.

It was then announced that Jason Holland would not remain within the set-up upon the expiry of his two-year contract.

That was reminiscent of Ian Foster’s time in charge with Brad Mooar and John Plumtree being replaced by Joe Schmidt and Jason Ryan in 2022.

Rennie is now putting together his All Blacks coaching staff and Marshall cannot understate the importance of getting it right.

NZ Rugby’s important role

“In the last eight years, both coaches, Foster and Robertson, have had problems with their coaching assistants. Brad Mooar and Plumtree left through Foster, recently with Leon MacDonald and Holland wasn’t going to extend,” he said on The Breakdown.

“He needs to bring in the synergy and the reliability so that group stays together – they’re tight and they’re together and there’s not people pulling in all sorts of directions.

“I hope they really do their due diligence but equally that New Zealand Rugby challenge him to make sure he’s making the right decisions.”

Several names have been linked with Rennie generally looking towards people he has worked with before, including Neil Barnes, Andrew Strawbridge and Mike Blair, but Jeff Wilson has also floated the idea of bringing in 2015 Rugby World Cup winner Sir Steve Hansen.

While Wilson admits that it is important the new head honcho gets people he can “trust”, the former wing also thinks a different voice can also be hugely beneficial.

“You have to have people you trust as well and that’s the challenge. You have to make these decisions really, really quickly,” he said.

“The bigger part for me is they’re going to need a really strong selection group now. It’s not just about the coaching but actually getting the right personnel in terms of getting the characters, the personalities, the ability of the players.

“For me, that’s just as important in that it’s not just the coaching team but the ability to select. Quite often, if you get that part wrong then you’re starting in a negative anyway, so it’s not just about, ‘okay you’re going to coach this’.”

“Is there somebody who’s going to floating around that is going to be independent of that, who becomes the third selector?

“I know Steve Hansen’s said: ‘I’m available and I’m finishing in Japan, I’m happy to assist and help’. I’m hearing that. Would he be a good guy? A good foil for the coaching group to go, ‘you know what, have you thought of this?’

“Grant Fox did that for years with the All Blacks, he was that third person who sat outside and said: ‘Have you thought of this? Is this the sort of experience you’re looking for.”

Why Eddie Jones reckons the All Blacks have an advantage under Dave Rennie as ‘perception’ perhaps became ‘reality’ with Scott Robertson

Rennie committed to Kobe

Rennie and NZ Rugby will hope to have the coaching staff in place soon as they start to plan for the Nations Championship which starts in July.

With the head coach not taking up the role until the conclusion of the Japan Rugby League One, some of preparation work may fall on his assistants.

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“Dave Rennie’s not going to be here for a while. The All Blacks are already behind. They were supposed to have a camp the week after Razor lost his job, so we’re already way behind in our prep,” Marshall added.

“Those assistant coaches have to be available and they’re probably going to have to take a camp when Dave Rennie is not here.

“They need to get going!”

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