Florence: Dave Rennie’s future may hinge on upcoming matches against Ireland and Wales as pressure builds on the Wallabies coach to finish the spring tour on a positive note, or face the prospect of registering Australia’s worst calendar year since 1958.
The Wallabies’ shock 28-27 loss to Italy on Sunday has not gone down well with Rugby Australia officials, who will wait until the end of the spring tour before reviewing the Wallabies’ season.
Rennie took a major gamble by resting the majority of his starting XV to give younger players and those with minimal game time extra opportunity against a team they viewed as weaker than their first two tour opponents, Scotland and France.
The selection calls ended in disaster as the Wallabies suffered their first defeat to Italy since the teams first played one another in 1983. From 18 previous matches, the Wallabies had beaten Italy by an averaging margin of 21.4 points.
Rennie defended his decision to sit key players out and made it clear he felt Australia had enough firepower to beat Italy.
Sources with knowledge of the situation say Rugby Australia powerbrokers were deeply frustrated with the Italy loss.
Wallabies coach Dave Rennie.Credit:Getty Images
Senior board members will wait until the end of the tour, which finishes with a Test against Wales on November 26, before reviewing the season and potentially making crunch decisions on coaching structures.
While last week’s one-point loss to France was viewed by many as a step in the right direction, RA officials know the pressure is on after an unprecedented loss to world No.13 Italy.
Chairman Hamish McLennan said earlier this year Rennie was safe until the 2023 World Cup, regardless of results on the spring tour.
Rennie’s preference is for an extension beyond the World Cup, but results on this tour will have a major bearing on whether a contract renewal is on the table before the tournament.
Wallabies players after their one-point defeat to Italy.Credit:Getty Images
If the Wallabies come away from the tour with just one win from five starts, the board will find it hard to justify an extension.
RA chief executive Andy Marinos said last month the expectation was for the Wallabies to achieve more wins than losses on tour. Australia will need to win their last two games to take the tour win rate above 50 per cent.
All three matches on this tour have been decided by one point. Australia scraped home by a point against Scotland, before narrow defeats to France and Italy in matches where the game was there for the taking.
Professional sport is ultimately a results-driven game and 2022 has not made for pretty reading. The Wallabies have won four of their 12 matches (33.3 per cent) and six of those Tests have been decided by four points or fewer. Of Australia’s four victories, only one has been by more than eight points.
In 2018, Michael Cheika’s Wallabies side managed just four wins from 13 Tests (30.8 per cent).
Statistically, it was the Wallabies’ worst year on record since 1958. An end-of-season review was held and while Cheika avoided getting sacked, Scott Johnson was appointed above him as a director of rugby, a selection panel was created and assistant coach Stephen Larkham was axed.
Cheika has since said he regrets not resigning when these changes were made.
Should the Wallabies fall against Ireland – ranked No.1 in the world – and Wales, they will finish the year with four wins from 14 matches (28.6 per cent).
RA has poured plenty of resources into this Wallabies team and despite results being close, the team has fallen short of expectations at board level.
Rennie’s overall Wallabies win record is 37.5 per cent, which does not take into account three draws in 2020. It is the worst record in the professional era for a Wallabies coach, but Rennie still has plenty of support.
“He’s the Wallabies head coach. Pressure is the job,” said former Wallaby Morgan Turinui on Stan Sport’s coverage. “If they win, he looks like a genius. If they lose, questions are asked.
“I don’t think he’s going anywhere. I am impressed with a lot of the work he’s done. I don’t see an obvious, better solution. It’s all well and good to talk about coaches but you’ve got to have a better viable solution waiting in the wings. I think Dave Rennie is doing a fine job with the players he has.”
Justin Harrison, another former Wallaby and the boss of the Rugby Union Players’ Association, said the onus is on the players to respond in Dublin.
“You say it’s a high-pressure job as a head coach. It’s a high-pressure job as a Test player,” Harrison said.
“There’s 15 players who took the field, 23 in that squad, who are now part of history they don’t want to be and they’ll take that for the rest of their lives. That’s a telling opportunity for them to now react.
“All of the energy has to be in understanding why we’re losing penalty counts, why are we doing what we’re doing … [it’s about] putting that behind them and moving onto the Irish Test.”
