New Zealand coach Dave Rennie is hoping to usher in a new era of All Blacks rugby, featuring players with a strong work ethic.
With the Nations Championship just a month-and-a-half away, the new head coach will be naming his squad relatively soon.
Rennie states that he has “already picked the 34” who will, injury-depending, prepare for the upcoming mid-year series and he is clear in his mind about what he wants from those individuals.
“A big thing for me is going to be about work ethic. When guys do a few flash things, commentators and various people get excited by it, but we’re looking for repeat efforts and getting some big shifts out of players,” he told Sky Sports NZ.
Rennie also needs to devise a more effective game plan than the one employed by his predecessor, Scott Robertson, who was criticised for taking a more conservative approach.
The former Wallabies, Chiefs and Glasgow Warriors boss is regarded as having an attacking style with his teams particularly renowned for being incredibly potent on transition.
“I’ve always had a mindset around counter-attack and turnover attack, and a massive amount of your possession now comes from the ball kicked to you,” he said.
“I guess when I was in Scotland in particular we got a lot of ball kicked, so I established a bit of a structure around treating counter-attack as a set-piece – your biggest source.”
Although Robertson coached a Crusaders outfit that were effective on counter-attack, that wasn’t repeated when he became the All Blacks boss.
They struggled off to create turnover ball and that is something Rennie is looking to correct when his tenure truly begins against France in July.
“Last year, I think the All Blacks scored three tries from counter-attack and three from turnover attack, so we want to change the mindset around that and have some accountability around that,” he said.
Positivity is also something Rennie is looking to bring. While Robertson ended with a 74 per cent win percentage, which was better than his predecessor Ian Foster, there was constant negativity over how the All Blacks were playing.
“I think it’s [about] playing with a bit of optimism. You’ve got to have a quality skill set for that and you’re going to have to be really well conditioned,” Rennie added.
“We’ll certainly coach with optimism and expect the players to embrace that.”
