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Dave Rennie banking on 'explosive and powerful athletes' to bring Wallabies success

(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)

Incoming Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has given his tick of approval to the Melbourne Rebels’ Super Rugby preparations ahead of their opening match on Saturday.

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Rennie spent time breaking bread with Rebels coach Dave Wessels and also observing their training before they flew out from Melbourne to Tokyo to face the Sunwolves.

The 56-year-old Kiwi, who was appointed as the new Wallabies coach last month in the wake of Michael Cheika’s post-World Cup departure, started his duties last week and is spending time visiting each of the Super Rugby clubs.

He’s seeking feedback from the players in a “variety of areas” as he looks to stamp his mark on the Wallabies.

Rennie said he was impressed with the Rebels set-up, which he hoped help translate to Wallabies success.

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“I thought training was really good – I liked the gym program – it’s a real focus on trying to create explosive and powerful athletes, which reflects the type of game I want to play,” he said.

“There’s good intensity in training and that’s a real focus for us from an Australian point of view.

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“We want the teams to have a higher skill-set and that’s great to see that been driven here.”

Rennie won’t join the Wallabies in a full-time capacity until June, when his contract with Glasgow ends, but he is working closely with Rugby Australia director of rugby Scott Johnson until then.

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He was happy with the connection between Australian Super Rugby clubs and the Wallabies – something set up under Cheika – which differed from his New Zealand perspective.

“I’ve visited the Waratahs and now the Rebels, and everyone is really supportive and I think the connections will be really strong, certainly as strong as anywhere else,” he said.

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“I wouldn’t say there’s a massive All Black coach involvement in New Zealand – they just let you get on with it – but we want to show that we care.

“We’re not going to tell the guys how we want them to play, we will just support where we can.”

– AAP

Catch up on all the highlights from the Round 3 Top League fixture between the Kobelco Steelers and Suntory Sungoliath:

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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