Crusaders make decision on Rob Penney’s future after horrific first season in charge
Crusaders head coach Rob Penney.
The Crusaders have decided to keep Rob Penney on as head coach despite delivering the club’s worst season in 23 years.
It was always going to be difficult to deal with the departure of the competition’s most successful coach Scott Robertson, who is now with the All Blacks, but few would have expected the decorated team to finish ninth of 12 and miss the play-offs.
Penney did lose Richie Mo’unga and Sam Whitelock before even starting which inevitably made life more difficult for the 59-year-old.
Board’s backing
A full review was conducted of the season which included seven straight defeats and the independent panel recommended 50 changes but suggested Penney should stay.
“Rob’s got the backing of the board and he’s got the backing of the players,” CEO Colin Mansbridge said.
“We have a list of things that we want to improve across the spectrum. There are a few changes that we will do… but most of them are around process and the way we work. A change of coaching personnel is not part of the 2025 plan.”
Despite backing the coach to stay on, Mansbridge did not hide the frustration of the poor season.
“At a high level, our worst result since 2001 created sleepless nights, no doubt about it,” he said.
“Should our fans be gutted about where we ended up? Absolutely.”
Trust the system
Mansbridge believes that the Crusaders still have a strong system that has produced a great number of trophies and feels firing Penney would put that at risk.
The CEO is also bullish that the side can quickly recover in the 2025 campaign as he targets next season’s Super Rugby Pacific final.
He stated that “throwing grenades into a system which produced 14 championships over 26 years” would be like “killing the golden goose”.
“I think the story of the Crusaders in the final next year would be pretty outstanding and that’s what we’re banking on,” Mansbridge added.
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