Glasgow sign Super Rugby winning Chiefs coach Rennie

Scottish Rugby Club Glasgow Warriors have signed current Chiefs Super Rugby head coach Dave Rennie from the 2017/8 season.

Rennie will lead the Chiefs through the 2017 Super Rugby season and then join Glasgow from the beginning of the 2017/18 season.

Rennie led the Chiefs to their first Super Rugby title in his debut season in 2012. He then led the Hamilton franchise to a second and back to back title in 2013.

Rennie was the first first-year coach to win a Super Rugby title since 2000.

The former Wellington centre held a position at the International Rugby Academy of New Zealand (IRANZ) as a resource coach between 2003-2007.

He also coached Manawatu in the ITM Cup between 2006-2011, and alongside that role he coached the New Zealand U20 side which won three consecutive Junior World Championships between 2008-2010. He started his coaching career in 1999 at Wellington, where the team won their first NPC title in 14 years in his opening season as head coach in 2000.

The 52 year-old will replace Gregor Townsend in the Glasgow role in a two-year deal, when he becomes Scotland’s national head coach at the start of the 2017/18 season.

Townsend led Glasgow Warriors for four years, reaching the Guinness PRO12 play-offs every season, culminating in the team winning the title in 2015.

Scottish Rugby Chief Executive, Mark Dodson, said: “It is a clear indication of the progress Scottish Rugby, and Glasgow Warriors, are making that we can attract a coach of Dave’s experience to Scotland to work with our players.

“Gregor has developed a great winning culture at Glasgow Warriors and I’m very confident Dave will be able to build on that solid foundation to bring more success to the club.

“We have a group of talented Scottish players at Glasgow and we want to maintain their progress and this appointment will expose them to fresh ideas and new approaches to the game. Dave’s experience at the Chiefs and at New Zealand age-grade level can only help to develop them and the team further.”

Dave Rennie said: “I am delighted to be appointed to the Head Coach role at Glasgow Warriors. The opportunity to work with such an exciting group of players at a club that has such big ambitions and a great winning culture was one I couldn’t turn down. It’s no secret I have been interested in coaching abroad and this chance with Scottish Rugby fitted the bill perfectly.

“As a coach you want to test yourself in new environments with new challenges. The work Gregor and his team have done at the Warriors speaks for itself and I am very motivated to continue that success and build the club.”