Springboks legend predicts ‘core’ of the All Blacks team will change but Dave Rennie won’t get much ‘tolerance’
New All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie and an inset of Springboks legend Schalk Burger.
Schalk Burger predicts that Dave Rennie will change the core of the All Blacks team, but the new head coach won’t get much tolerance from the New Zealand public.
Rennie has been tasked with turning the All Blacks’ fortunes around after New Zealand Rugby deemed that the team was not on track for the 2027 Rugby World Cup under Scott Robertson’s tutelage.
He now has just one full international season to inspire change and Burger believes that there are three areas of concern in terms of selection, but he does believe that Rennie is a good fit.
The new All Blacks coach arrives with a glowing CV from his stints with the Chiefs and Glasgow Warriors but he endured a harsh end to his spell with the Wallabies.
He was sacked from the position before the 2023 World Cup with Rugby Australia getting Eddie Jones to replace him. Whilst a defeat to Italy played a role in Rennie’s dismissal, one match against the All Blacks sticks out – the 2022 Bledisloe Cup opener.
Australia held a three-point lead and had won a penalty inside their own 22 but Bernard Foley was judged to have been time-wasting and New Zealand were awarded a scrum which led to Jordie Barrett’s match-winning try.
“Dave Rennie was about 15 seconds away from winning the Bledisloe before he got fired. If it wasn’t for that, he would have won the Bledisloe for the first time in 20-odd years,” Burger said on the Verdict podcast.
“He was a good coach at the Chiefs and Glasgow. I played against him when Glasgow were competitive. He’s old school. He is a hard taskmaster. I think it’s a good fit for the All Blacks. He’s not got a lot of time, but I think he’s got that mentality where he can change the team around quickly.”
Attack coach appointment is crucial
Fellow Springboks great Jean de Villiers agreed with his former teammate that Rennie is a good fit for the All Blacks, but said he can’t be judged fairly just yet as his coaching team hasn’t been confirmed.
Reports suggest that Tana Umaga could be recruited into Rennie’s set-up with just one of Robertson’s deputies remaining.
“I think he is a disciplinarian,” De Villiers said of the new All Blacks boss.
“It’s very difficult to judge him in isolation when we don’t know who the assistant coaches are. I think such a big part of that gig is actually having a team around you that can make the group successful. Having an attack coach who really speaks to the way that the players want to play and is comfortable with.”
The attack coach is an important appointment, according to the two 2007 World Cup winners, after Robertson went through two during his tenure.
Former centre De Villiers believes that is why Jamie Joseph was initially the favourite for the job because many hoped that he would be able to get Tony Brown to join his backroom team.
“That’s why everybody kind of went Jamie Joseph initially because it was Jamie Joseph/Tony Brown as a package. Whereas now with Rennie there, that’s a big question for me,” he explained.
“Do you go back to some of the guys who were there now? Because you need to be aligned, and it’s not something where you just sit around the table and say, ‘Okay, no, we all agree on everything.'”
Burger continued: “Yeah, they’ve had two attacking coaches under Razor. Again, it’s a short turnaround, and it starts this year with big Test matches, four against the Boks. That will probably give you a greater indication of what your player corpse looks like. Do you try to get players back from Japan? And then who is your captain?”
All Blacks’ shake-up
The former flanker says that Rennie will bring a fresh approach and that will shake up the core of the squad. The new coach hinted that may well be the case, stating that he’d be selecting his first squad on form as he has ‘no loyalties’ to players in New Zealand, having not coached in the country in nine years.
“Every coach has their own ideas, and the core of the team will change a little bit. It’s a lot of pressure, it’s a big gig to take over, and what we’ve seen from the last two generations or two stints of coaches, the public and the players, there’s not a lot of tolerance,” Burger said.
“If you look at Robertson’s career, it’s not a bad one. He got fired while second in the world – you don’t have a lot of bandwidth to play with. Good luck to Dave.”
De Villiers replied: “It’s the same thing we asked previously. What does success look like now for the new coach coming in? It’s not an easy year lying ahead for them at all. The World Cup next year, how do you build a bit of momentum, so it’s a step in the right direction for them, but still a lot of question marks in terms of how you make that basket full?”
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Burger concluded the discussion by pointing to the positions that he thinks Rennie needs to improve.
“He doesn’t have a lot of time to develop,” he said.
“What does your locking partnership look like? That’s one area where we think they were a little bit weaker. Loose forwards, we thought they were in a good spot, and then they started swapping and changing a lot.
“Then 10 and 12, if Jordie Barrett doesn’t play 12, who’s next in line? Is Beauden Barrett the one taking it forward at 10? Damian McKenzie? Or does Mo’unga slot straight back in? If you look at any good team, your lock, loose forwards, and your 10-12 is so important.
“We saw what England was like on the weekend with that backline. So many changes, and they were so disjointed in their attack and their defence.”
READ MORE: Opinion: Dave Rennie is right, it’s time to ditch New Zealand Rugby’s outdated All Blacks policy
