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Dave Rennie says he’s not prepared to leave his future in the hands of the Wallabies’ performance at next year’s World Cup and has addressed his win-loss record – the worst of any Australian coach in the professional era.
Rennie is packing his bags for a five-Test tour of Europe that could make or break his tenure. He revealed that he would be looking to secure his post-World Cup future early next year – presumably before the truncated Rugby Championship.
Rugby Australia has publicly backed Rennie to see out his current contract – but there is a chance that he doesn’t get that far should the losses mount on the northern hemisphere tour.
Wallabies head coach, Dave Rennie watches on during the Australian Wallabies captain’s run at Marvel Stadium on September 14, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)
“The challenge for all coaches around the world is you can’t sit on your hands and wait until November next year to decide what you’re going to do the following season,” Rennie said.
“It’ll get to the stage where, very early next year, I’ll have to make a decision as to what I’m doing beyond 23.”
Rennie was asked by The Roar about his win-loss record, the first time he’s directly addressed it.
Rennie’s 15 losses, 11 wins, and three draws – or a win percentage just under 38 percent – have tested some Wallabies fans, and News Corp directly called for his sacking last month after his Bledisloe Cup debacle at Eden Park.
He has undoubtedly had to endure a long injury list during the past 12 months but other factors have contributed. Rennie is exasperated as the rest of us at the ill discipline in his ranks.
“At this level, there’s pressure on everyone. What’s happening a lot at international rugby is that it’s so tight,” Rennie said.
“It’s not lost on me that we’ve had results that we should have won that we haven’t won so in the end that falls on me.”
He was asked if he had had any recent discussions with RA about his position.
“No, I haven’t had any discussions around beyond next year. The only discussions I had, which were quite a while back, were that I’m here until the end of the World Cup and that’s the plan,” said Rennie.
Rennie will need to see a markedly improved effort from his team’s discipline with tough matches ahead against Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and France. The only one that looks like a “gimme” is against Italy.
“We’ve put a lot of time into that very topic,” Rennie said.
“Over the last three weeks, we’ve gone back and reflected on every game, every penalty.
“Where, when, who – to try and get some clear understanding of what we can change.
“In offsides we’ve been murdered. And so that’s something that we can manage.
“At scrum time sometimes you get penalised, and maybe you’ve been hard done by and you’ve got to take that on the chin, but we’ve got to take responsibility for stuff that we can control.
“The stats tell us if we reduce the penalties by about four, you go to about second best in the world (in penalty concessions). So that’s achievable.”
Rennie is also concerned that the more penalties the Wallabies give away, the more referees are expecting them to infringe.
“Our concern is the impression that it has for referees that they’re thinking that we’re offending a lot, especially when we’re down our end,” Rennie said. “We’ve got to paint a better picture there. And so we’re going to put a lot of emphasis on it on tour.”
Meanwhile, Rennie will continue to have Laurie Fisher as part of his coaching staff for the Spring Tour after he joined for The Rugby Championship.
With injuries and Japanese club commitments affecting the squad, Rennie has opted to use two Giteau Law picks instead of the allowed three for the tour.
One of those, Will Skelton, was used sparingly a year earlier but Rennie hinted the towering lock could be a World Cup weapon and might see more action this time, although he will be unable to play against the Scots.
“We’ll assess how the second-row goes in that game but he’s starting week-in, week-out for La Rochelle, and what we know is he’s a massive man who had a big impact,” Rennie said.
“He’s been working hard on his conditioning, and knowing that the intensity lifts at international level, but he’s probably not an 80-minute player for us, but more likely to start.
(Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
“He’s had a massive impact at La Rochelle. When they won the European Cup last year it was on the back of Will playing the house down. He’s a big man who bullies other big men, and 140-odd kilos behind your tight-head prop’s handy at scrum time.
“He’s very good around set-piece, defensive maul, and maul, so we’re really excited to get him in. It was good to have him in the mix last year and it gave us a good understanding of how desperate he is to wear the Wallaby jersey again.”
With that win-loss record and Rennie under pressure, he faces some intriguing selection calls as he balances giving opportunities for next year against the short-term sugar hit of victory.
“That’s going to be a balance on this tour. For a start, we want to win every Test, it’s also been a long year on the back of a long Super season for some of these boys and then into international footy,” said Rennie.
“We need to share the workload as well. And there’s a number of guys who we want to find out by the end of this tour if they’re genuine World Cup contenders, so hence the reason we’ve got a handful of uncapped players who are likely to play on the tour.”
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