Dan Carter: All Black great backs Dave Rennie to return to Test rugby

Legendary All Black Dan Carter admits the sacking of Dave Rennie caught him by surprise but backs the coach to return to the highest level.

Rennie was sacked earlier this month after a poor Autumn Nations Series on the back of an average season. The New Zealand-born coach boasted a 38% win rate throughout his tenure and was replaced by Eddie Jones, who England had only sacked at the end of last year.

Had players’ respect

Despite the poor win record, Carter feels Rennie is a fantastic coach and believes the coach had the players’ respect.

“I just felt like there was no communication or anything and then all of a sudden it kind of just came out of the blue,” Carter told AAP.

“He had a lot of respect from the players.

“You know that he’s a good coach, whether the record has shown that or not.”

Carter encountered Rennie in Super Rugby, where the coach led the Chiefs to back-to-back titles.

“They were tough,” Carter said about Rennie’s Chiefs outfit.

“They were really physical, really passionate. They really did challenge and test us a lot.

“In terms of culture you can often see when teams are playing for their coach, there’s so much respect in it. The Chiefs were definitely doing that when he was coaching there.

“I’m sure further down the track he’ll be coaching international rugby again.”

Jones’ influence

Meanwhile, Carter recalls that Jones prepares his teams well and has felt in the past that his sides know their opposition very well. The great playmaker believes the return of Jones to the Australian set-up will fire up the Bledisloe Cup.

“Sometimes you felt like they knew what you were going to do before you even did it,” Carter said.

“They’re well-prepared sides.

“He just brings out the emotion of the players as well. He’ll draw inspiration from the rivalry that New Zealand and Australia has.

“That’ll start with the Bledisloe Cup games in the middle of the year. That’ll be a really exciting time to see exactly where the two teams are placed.”

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