Glasgow Warriors have pulled off a sizeable coup in attracting New Zealander Dave Rennie as the successor to Gregor Townsend as head coach from next year.
Rennie, who took the Chiefs Super Rugby franchise to successive titles, was thought to be favourite to succeed Steve Hansen as head coach of the All Blacks until the World Cup winning coach extended his contract until 2019 last month.
The 52-year-old former Wellington centre may still have aspirations in that line – his deal with Glasgow is for just two years at the outset – but in the meantime it’s a huge coup for Glasgow to have secured his services as Rennie would have been a leading candidate for a number of top jobs in Europe when his Chiefs deal runs out next June.
He took the Waikato-based franchise to the Super Rugby title in his first season as head coach in 2013 and successfully defended the crown in 2014. Previous to that he coached New Zealand’s “Baby Blacks”, their Under-20 team, to three successive Junior World Cup titles.
Scottish Rugby chief executive Mark Dodson said: “It is a clear indication of the progress Scottish Rugby, and Glasgow Warriors, are making that we can attract a coach of Dave’s experience to Scotland to work with our players.
“Gregor has developed a great winning culture at Glasgow Warriors and I’m very confident Dave will be able to build on that solid foundation to bring more success to the club.
“We have a group of talented Scottish players at Glasgow and we want to maintain their progress and this appointment will expose them to fresh ideas and new approaches to the game. Dave’s experience at the Chiefs and at New Zealand age-grade level can only help to develop them and the team further.”
Rennie had indicated that he wanted to coach abroad and found Glasgow was the perfect fit for him.
“I’m really impressed by what I’ve seen in Glasgow, the history, the people, the lifestyle,” he said. “The Warriors are aspirational, have good people and have created a great culture under Gregor.
“The opportunity to work with such an exciting group of players at a club with such big ambitions and a winning culture was one I couldn’t turn down.
“The work Gregor and his team have done at the Warriors speaks for itself and I am motivated to continue that success and build on it.”
