Former Springbok Robbie Fleck has warned South Africans not to be fooled by Dave Rennie’s easygoing manner, predicting that the All Blacks will bring a brutal edge to their four-Test Rugby's Greatest Rivalry against the Springboks.
Fleck, the former Stormers coach, faced Rennie numerous times during their Super Rugby careers and also spent time with the New Zealander while he was coaching Glasgow.
“He’s probably the best I know,” Fleck said on the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict podcast alongside former Springbok teammates Jean de Villiers and Hanyani Shimange. “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 Rennie’s teams are characterised by intensity, physicality, and a willingness to attack with ball in hand.
“A Dave Rennie side plays with huge intensity, with lots of ball in hand and quick outside backs. The key ingredient for 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.”
With two midweek matches played on their tour, Fleck believes Rennie is only getting started and that his hard edge will become increasingly evident once the Test series against the Springboks begins.
“Of course, set-piece matters to him — you have to defend your ball and win possession — but his key ingredient is physicality," said Fleck. “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.”
Fleck also pointed to the size and physical presence of the New Zealand squad as evidence of Rennie’s preparations for the Springboks.
“Look at the touring side Rennie has brought over. He’s brought big humans to counter the Springboks,” Fleck said.
“He’ll be driving that message throughout this campaign about how physical they have to be to beat South Africa. That is Dave Rennie — a hard-nosed coach. Every single side he’s coached, you can see that Rennie flavour coming through, and that’s a sign of a very good coach.”
The first Test between the Springboks and the All Blacks kicks off next week Saturday at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. It'll be followed by Tests in Cape Town, FNB Stadium in Joburg and Baltimore in the US>