Wallabies coach Dave Rennie sets timeline for post-Rugby World Cup future call
Dave Rennie says he'll know by the start of next year whether he will coach the Wallabies beyond the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
At the end of 2019, it was announced Rennie would take the reins of the Australian rugby union team from Michael Cheika – who now coaches Argentina in union and Lebanon in league.
To date, Rennie has taken the Wallabies to 11 wins, three draws, and 15 losses since the start of 2020.
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Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it posed, it is still the worst record in the professional era for any Australian coach with a 38 per cent win ratio.
Next year's Rugby World Cup could be his farewell effort with the team, depending on whether his contract is extended.
Speaking after the announcement of his 36-man squad to tour Europe at the end of this year, Rennie said he hadn't discussed his future with Rugby Australia beyond 2023.
Dave Rennie says it's up to him whether he sticks with the Wallabies beyond the 2023 Rugby World Cup. Getty
However, he affirmed he would determine his own destiny.
"I haven't had any discussions around beyond next year," said Rennie.
"The only discussion I had, which was quite a while back, was obviously I'm here until the end of the World Cup, and that's the plan.
"A challenge for all coaches around the world is you can't sit on your hands and wait until November next year to decide what you're going to do the following season," he added.
"It'll get to the stage where, very early next year, I'll have to make a decision as to what I'm doing beyond '23."
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie talks to players during the Wallabies Captain's Run in Sydney. Getty
It's been a decade since Rennie led the Chiefs to their first Super Rugby title.
He coached that side until 2017 before a four-year tenure at the Glasgow Warriors.
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Asked about the differences between domestic and international coaching, Rennie said, "The difference really is you get your team two weeks before your first Test.
"So, the advantage of club footy is you have two or three months of preparation leading in and you've got those players all the way through.
"That's definitely different, but we still get the players for five months [for Tests]. We've played games where we made some really good shifts and then we don't back that up the following week. That's a big focus of us; our consistency.
"Certainly, the advantage of playing five Tests as opposed to three, we just have to get as much footy into these young men as possible.
"Five Tests now, five more leading into the World Cup is 10, and then that'll take some of our boys to sort of around about 30 Tests by the time we kick off at the World Cup.
"We reckon that's going to be really important."
The first of those five matches will see the Wallabies face Scotland on October 30 before fixtures against France, Italy, Ireland and Wales through to the end of November.
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