Rennie unhappy with Boks airing All Blacks’ discipline concerns in public
SPOTLIGHT: All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie has questioned the Springboks’ coaching staff’s decision to air out grievances about their discipline issues in the media ahead of the first Test of the Greatest Rivalry on Saturday.
*Also read: New referee rules forcing coaches to voice concerns publicly
This week, Bok assistant coach Felix Jones revealed the feedback they received from the Sharks, Stormers and Bulls, who all recently faced the All Blacks.
Jones said there was a common trend in what was said by the South African teams.
He said the franchises were not particularly happy with how the All Blacks conducted themselves at the breakdown.
According to Jones, the franchises said they experienced “tucked shoulders” going into the breakdown and aired their frustrations of not being able to score from mauls.
The franchises also accused the All Blacks of lifting legs during lineouts, and Jones admitted it’s an area of their game he hasn’t seen before.
This topic resurfaced during the All Blacks press conference on Thursday, and Dave Rennie was asked for his opinion.
“We sent in clips of concerns that we’ve got; I’m sure they’ve done the same thing,” he said.
“I’m not sure why they are trying to air that stuff in the media.
“I’ve got no plans on sharing any of the clips we’ve shared with the media.”
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Rennie was also quizzed on his side’s discipline since arriving in South Africa.
The All Blacks were ill-disciplined in their opening match of the tour against the Stormers and received three yellow cards, two of which were for cynical play and foul play.
They showed improvement against the Sharks and Bulls, and Rennie emphasised the need to continue on that trend against the Springboks.
“I think Felix was pointing out a handful of things around us, clawing a leg; we did that once, and we got penalised,” he said.
“We threw a guy across the lineout once, and we got penalised; we were pulling at the back of the maul and got penalised and sin-binned.
“So, we have learnt. Discipline was much better on the weekend [v Bulls], and we know that’s going to be important against the Springboks.”
