Respected coach ‘refused’ All Blacks gig after Dave Rennie’s key appointment while new boss wins ‘little war’ with NZ Rugby
All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and an inset of Andrew Strawbridge.
Dave Rennie has reportedly missed out on a top candidate for his All Blacks coaching team but won a ‘little war’ with New Zealand Rugby over another appointment.
NZ Rugby announced on Tuesday that Tana Umaga, Neil Barnes, Jason Ryan and Mike Blair will be the new All Blacks assistant coaches, with Phil Healey leading the Health and Performance team.
Former ABs captain Umaga will take charge of the defence, Barnes has been appointed as a senior assistant coach with the lineout being a major part of his remit, whilst Scotsman Blair will lead the attack, and Ryan will continue his work with the forwards, zoning in on the mauls and scrums.
Coach rejects All Blacks’ advances
Ultimately, it’s a clearing of the house from the assistants that Scott Robertson had last year with Ryan being the only exception, as the forwards guru is set to work under a third All Blacks head coach.
Rennie has seemingly got the men that he wants to work alongside as he begins his mission to get the team back on track for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia but according to a report by The Post, one respected coach turned down the opportunity to join his staff.
That man is Andrew Strawbridge, whose name was linked with a potential assistant coach position. Strawbridge is a renowned skills coach who worked with Rennie at the Chiefs and was part of Ian Foster’s staff before leaving New Zealand to join England’s set-up.
He worked as a consultant coach for the RFU and had a stint in Steve Borthwick’s set-up during the 2024 tour of Japan and New Zealand. It is reported that he was lined up for a permanent position in England, but was reluctant to take on the role due to his daughter being in her final year of high school. He instead took up a role at Toyota Verblitz, linking up with Foster again.
According to the report by The Post, Strawbridge pulled his name from contention to join Rennie’s team due to ‘personal reasons’, understood to relate to an unwillingness to work with Barnes, with whom he had teamed up for several years at the Chiefs. Barnes is well-known for his straight-shooting, but Strawbridge has a strong personality of his own.
“What you see is what you get. There’s no bull…. around him, he just calls a spade a spade,” said ex-Chiefs coach Clayton McMillan back in 2021. “Even though he can come across sometimes as a bit abrasive, it’s coming from a place of care.”
Rennie wins the mini war
Barnes’ title of ‘senior assistant coach’ sends a clear message of the hierarchy under Rennie, which was problematic in Robertson’s second season in particular. Scott Hansen was initially that man for Razor, operating as a defence coach initially, moving to the attack after Leon MacDonald and Jason Holland’s departures and essentially running the team in the end, something Robertson noted. There is no suggestion that Rennie would be doing the same, but what is clear is that Barnes is going to be the new head coach’s right-hand man.
Additionally, the New Zealand Herald has described Blair’s appointment as attack coach as Rennie winning ‘a little war against his employer’.
The publication states that NZ Rugby pushed back on the inclusion of the former Scotland scrum-half in Rennie’s proposed team of assistants but not because of pedigree or nationality. Instead, the union felt there was a strong candidate already on the books in the form of Scott Hansen.
They believed that Robertson’s former assistant was worthy of consideration, but how much so, Rennie did just that is not known, as the head coach relentanted and got the assistant he currently works with at Kobe.
“To some extent, Rennie has won a little war against his employer by getting Blair over the line – and he’s won it not through belligerence or stubbornness but through reasoned and resolute arguments about what he believes will ultimately be best for the All Blacks,” Gregor Paul wrote.
READ MORE: All Blacks hero’s verdict on new Dave Rennie assistant who does not play the ‘political game’
