The shallow shame of Rugby Australia and its sacking of Dave Rennie

Mark Reason is a sports columnist for Stuff.

OPINION: Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan’s petty decision to sack Dave Rennie spoke of a former advertising executive who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

McLennan ditched Rennie because Eddie Jones suddenly became available, because Australia had a poor win-loss ratio and because he was a bit piqued that Rennie had told the media he hadn’t spoken to the chairman for quite some time. So out came the dagger.

It was a dismal day in rugby land. Anyone who knew anything about the sport could see that Rennie was building an Australian squad that was going to become a force in the next 12 months. They had been narrowly beaten by France and Ireland in November, the two best sides in the world. And that despite an injury crisis which no team could have withstood.

My dad used to measure a man by asking himself the question; would I go into the jungle with him? The first time I met Rennie, I knew he was what Kiwis call a good bugger. He came across the paddock, arm outstretched, his t-shirt stained with sweat and salt of the earth. Rennie is a man who would unhesitatingly have your back.

In contrast, McLennan sells people’s souls, providing the price is right. McLennan said in one of the first interviews he gave after the sacking of Rennie: “There’s more of a risk not doing something about it when the opportunity presented itself.

“We stumbled during the spring tour. The world changed when Eddie got let go. The team has made progress but we need to develop a harder edge. There’s no more experienced campaigner out there than Eddie. We had to take advantage of that. He’s ruthless and tough and has that twinkle in his eye. The profile of rugby has gone through the roof already and fans, sponsors and players will react accordingly.”

That last sentence tells you all you need to know about McLennan. He sees Jones as a marketing coup. He sees Jones as a tap dancer with twinkle eyes and twinkle toes and a good line in patter. If you want sponsors, then Eddie’s your man. And there’s nothing McLennan likes more than a good sponsor.

These are the times that we live in - money men making shallow decisions about people and sports that they don’t really understand. In football, the Premier League has already sacked five managers this season, and it’s odds on that Frank Lampard and David Moyes will become numbers six and seven. Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A sacked 21 managers between them over the previous season.

And you could bet that if McLennan had been in charge of Manchester United in 1990 then he would have sacked Alex Ferguson. In Ferguson’s three seasons in charge United had finished 11th, 2nd and then 11th again.

In 1990, they had just been thrashed 5-1 by a Manchester City side that was not remotely the force that it is now. An infamous banner declared: “3 years of excuses and it’s still crap… ta-ra Fergie”. McLennan couldn’t have put up with that sort of noise. Ferguson would have been given the golden shoe and the future would have been trashed.

And sadly this is what has happened to Rennie despite the obvious parallels between Fergie's United and Rennie's Australia in timeline, results and evolving culture.

In 2020 Rennie had inherited a squad that was a bit of a shambles after the Israel Folau affair and various other scandals. His first job, and it was a big one, was to bring back decency and trust and loyalty. Once that was established, Rennie then went about developing the young players, the future, just as Ferguson had done.

Rugby Australia CEO Andy Marinos paid tribute to that work, saying; “Dave has been instrumental in developing much of the depth that we see in and around the current Wallabies squad; there are a number of players that are genuine World Cup possibilities because of opportunities that Dave has provided. The work ethic, the spirit within the group, and the way the team carries itself are all a direct result of Dave’s input – he has made a real mark on this group of players.”

It is what Rennie does. Wayne Smith said; “Dave's a builder of teams. He's his own man, he fights his corner…He's a community man, Dave, he's clearly spreading the word around the rugby fraternity. He's well thought of there. There's a lot of people supporting the game again. It's gotta be good.”

Good, and it was only going to get better. In 2016 an Australia team, which had played in a World Cup final and which included Folau and David Pocock, lost 3-0 to a naive England side and by a cumulative score of 106-75. Last year Rennie’s Australia, without any of their top No 10s available, lost 2-1 to a much better England side and by a cumulative score of 74-64.

Despite the ravages of Covid, when Rennie selflessly took a 30% pay cut, Australia were clearly making progress. I thought that if they could avoid injuries to key players, then they had a real shot at winning the World Cup. They still do, but it will be Rennie’s Australia coached by someone else, and you can be sure that fast Eddie and shiny-shoes Hamish will take all the glory should Australia go all the way.

Actually, that’s not entirely fair on Eddie. He has previously acknowledged that Rennie was doing a good job in difficult circumstances and I am sure he would tip his cap if the moment arrived. But it’s a bloody business and you wonder what price the current Australia players will now put on loyalty.

As for Rennie, I wish him well. When I asked Smith what he thought of him once, in another galaxy, long, long ago, the professor texted back from Guangzhou of all places; "Special. Imagine him as AB coach some time down the line. Genial, values people and fairness."

Sounds like the sort of person you would go into the jungle with.