Will Warren Gatland consider Dave Rennie for a Lions coaching role?
Wednesday 7 September 2016 18:19, UK
Warren Gatland has plenty to ponder ahead of naming his coaching team in December with the likes of Joe Schmidt, Paul Gustard, Rob Howley and Andy Farrell all in the mix.
Many feel that Glasgow's Gregor Townsend would be a quality addition to Gatland's coaching squad, but he has claimed he is committed to his new role with Scotland and will be preparing for their 2017 tour to Australia.
However, the man who will replace Townsend at Glasgow next summer could well find himself on the plane back to New Zealand sooner than he thinks.
Dave Rennie is one of the most highly-rated coaches in New Zealand and Gatland will surely take a long hard look at the current Chiefs coach.
The former Wellington centre was quick to adapt to coaching after he guided Wellington to their first NPC title in 14 years in his opening season. He went on to coach Manawatu in the ITM Cup in 2006, leading them to the NPC Championship final in 2011.
However, it was at the Chiefs where he really made his mark after joining them in 2012. They went on to win their first ever Super Rugby title and backed that up a year later with by retaining their crown.
Rennie is a great student of the game and loves his teams to keep the ball alive and attack from anywhere.
Gatland, a Waikato man himself, will of course have first-hand experience of Rennie's attacking methods as the Chiefs demolished Wales 40-7 in Hamilton earlier this year as Rennie's men scored six tries to one.
The Chiefs played with an intent and an ambition that Wales could just not match and Rennie could well be the man to bring that to the Lions team.
In 2013, Gatland had three assistant coaches - Rob Howley was in charge of attack, Graham Rowntree looked after the forwards and Andy Farrell was their defence guru. However, in his Sky Sports interview with Graham Simmons, Gatland said he is looking to add another coach to take some of the pressure off and liked Graham's idea of taking a look at Rennie.
" I hadn't thought about that," admitted Gatland. "You have just put a new thought into my head so I will mull over that - probably on the plane over to New Zealand.
"That is a really interesting concept and I'll have to have a real think about that idea."
Click on the video above to hear what Gatland thinks of Rennie and his ideas on who will skipper the 2017 Lions.
