Penney to guide Baby Blacks
NPC winning Canterbury coach Rob Penney has been selected as head coach of the World Championship winning New Zealand Under-20 team.
Penney, who took Canterbury to their fourth straight national title with a victory over Waikato in this year’s NPC final, has been head coach with the red and blacks since 2006 and assistant coach for three years before that. He has also held roles with the Canterbury academy, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) as a development officer and as chief executive at the Marlborough Rugby Union.
Penney will be assisted in the U20 role by newly appointed Wellington Lions coach Chris Boyd and Waikato and Chiefs assistant coach Scott McLeod, who played 17 times for the All Blacks from 1996 to 1998.
The U20 side will defend their IRB Junior World Championship in South Africa in June next year.
NZRU general manager of professional rugby, Neil Sorensen, said Penney had developed a winning mentality at Canterbury.
“Rob has built a reputation for turning young Canterbury sides, with many players away on All Blacks duty, into championship winning teams. He has proven his ability to get the best out of our future stars.”
A panel consisting of NZRU board member and former All Blacks captain Graham Mourie, NZRU High Performance Player Development Manager Paul MacKinnon and High Performance Coach Development Manager Mike Chu made the appointment from a large number of high quality applicants.
Consistent with the NZRU commitment to utilise the U20 coaching positions to assist with coach development, this year’s coaches Mark Anscombe and Jason O’Halloran were not considered for reappointment.
