Glasgow Warriors’ Dave Rennie has been confirmed as the new head coach of Australia, but will stay at Scotstoun until the end of his contract in May.
The 55-year-old Kiwi has always been the favourite to succeed Michael Cheika since the Wallabies head coach was fired after the Australians lost heavily in the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals to England.
The anticipated appointment had been delayed as Rennie considered a request from the New Zealand Rugby Union to be one of 26 candidates to apply to be head coach of the All Blacks, but after Jamie Joseph announced he had opted to stay as head coach of Japan on Monday, it seems clear that there’s a much shorter wish list for that job.
In any case Rennie, who had been open to overtures from Australia since last year and was ready to return to the southern hemisphere after three years at Glasgow, always seemed a likelier candidate to take over the Wallabies, and Rugby Australia have confirmed a three and a half year deal.
The man who led the Chiefs to two Super Rugby titles and New Zealand’s Under-20s to world championship wins was a huge coup for Glasgow to replace Gregor Townsend when he took the Scotland job in 2017.
Rennie has carried on Glasgow’s reputation for entertaining, free-running rugby but has not added any titles to the Guinness PRO14 championship won by Townsend in 2015. The Warriors were defeated by Leinster in the PRO14 final at Celtic Park in May, and in the semi-finals at home to Scarlets in Rennie’s first season.
In Europe, Rennie’s Warriors failed to get out of a tough group in his first season and although he took the team into the last eight last season, they were defeated three times in the pool stages and quarter-finals by eventual Heineken Cup champions Saracens.
Rennie signed a year’s extension to his initial two-year deal at Glasgow last May. It’s understood he will remain at Scotstoun until the end of the season to see out that contract.
“We’ve loved our time here around great people,” Rennie told the club’s website. “It’s been as good as I could have wished after leaving New Zealand.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to coach at international level and an added bonus that we’ll be a little closer to home. All my focus is on the rest of the season in Glasgow as we strive to be in the mix at play-off time in both comps again.”
Scottish Rugby Chief executive Mark Dodson said: “I’d like to thank Dave for the contribution he’s made to the development of the Glasgow Warriors over the past two seasons.
“He’s led a talented playing and coaching group with passion and encouraged the team to express themselves and play positive rugby.
“He enhanced the strong, positive culture at the club and pushed the team to achieve significant results. He has conducted himself throughout with great professionalism and I know he will want to sign off his time in Glasgow with some silverware. We wish him well for the future.”
Rennie may yet take other key coaching personnel with him to Australia. His chief assistant at the Warriors Jason O’Halloran is out of contract at the end of the season, while Scotland defence coach Matt Taylor has been repeatedly rumoured to be heading back to the the land of his birth.
Scottish Rugby are thought to be ready to announce Rennie’s successor already, with current Scotland forwards’ coach Danny Wilson to be confirmed as the new head coach at Scotstoun as early as tomorrow.
Wilson joined Gregor Townsend’s international management team in the summer of 2018 from Cardiff Blues.