Former Stormers boss Robbie Fleck rates Dave Rennie as the best coach he’s faced, and the key to beating his All Blacks side is matching that edge the “hard-nosed” Kiwi instils.
Fleck, who coached the Stormers from 2016 to 2019, faced Rennie’s Chiefs three times in Super Rugby at Newlands – a 60-21 loss in 2016, winning 34-26 a year later, then losing 17-11 in a quarter-final.
Rennie led the Chiefs to back-to-back Super Rugby titles in 2012 and 2013 before stints with the Glasgow Warriors and now the All Blacks.
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Speaking on the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict podcast with fellow ex-Boks Jean de Villiers and Hanyani Shimange, ahead of Saturday’s clash between the All Blacks and Vodacom Bulls at Loftus, Fleck described Rennie’s coaching style.
“He’s probably the best I know. I went and did some professional development with him when he was head coach at Glasgow, and he’s my favourite coach of all time,” Fleck said.
“The key to what a Dave Rennie side looks like is that they play with huge intensity, with lots of ball in hand and quick outside backs.
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“The key ingredient for Dave Rennie is physicality. He builds his whole game around it, and he calls it ‘brutality’. You sit and listen to this guy speak and everything is about being brutal – collisions, the breakdown, the tackle.
“Everything is a fight. As soon as you give an inch to the opposition, you’re losing the game.”
Fleck said Rennie’s intense focus will be more pronounced in the upcoming four Tests between the Boks and New Zealand, which kicks off at Ellis Park next Saturday.
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“Of course, set-piece matters to him – you have to defend your ball and win possession – but his key ingredient is physicality. If he believes, even for one second, that his team is losing that side of the game, he’ll try to correct it, because he knows he’s going to lose.
“Look at the touring side Rennie has brought over, he’s brought big humans to counter the Springboks,” the former centre noted.
“He’ll be driving that message throughout this campaign about how physical they have to be to beat South Africa.
“That is Dave Rennie: an old-school, hard-nosed coach who understands the nuances of the game. Every single side he’s coached, you can see that Dave Rennie flavour coming through, and that’s a sign of a very good coach.”
Photo: Joe Allison/Getty Images
The post Fleckie warns Boks of Rennie’s brutality appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Former Stormers boss Robbie Fleck rates Dave Rennie as the best coach he’s faced, and the key to beating his All Blacks side is matching that edge the “hard-nosed” Kiwi instils.
The post Fleckie warns Boks of Rennie’s brutality appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
