Having responded to missing the Super Rugby Pacific finals in 2024 by returning the trophy to its regular accommodation at Crusaders HQ, Scott “Razor” Robertson’s successor, Rob Penney, completed a turnaround that some thought he was incapable of. Mike Thorpe sat down with him to talk success, failure and why
Premium
Crusaders coach Rob Penney speaks on winning Super Rugby, losing, ego and dropping the C-bomb
Subscribe to listen
Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?
Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
Crusaders coach Rob Penney opens up on his first two seasons in charge, following in the footsteps of Scott Robertson.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
The other version is one-on-one, face-to-face and not quite so readily available to media. This Rob Penney is a step closer to the man that his players get. He’s thoughtful, unguarded and inquisitive. He’s humble, relaxed and, surprisingly, orders roasted vegetable soup off the menu at the cafe opposite Rugby Park.
It’s winter – but not strictly soup weather. The fact that Penney’s wearing shorts proves that. We sit at the front of the busy cafe in warm sunlight and are immediately interrupted by a quartet of Crusaders players who are preparing for an NPC clash for Canterbury.
“Good to see you lads,” says Penney with genuine warmth as the players greet him and then me with a fist bump before heading back to HQ.
We’d last sat down like this in December, just six months after the Crusaders had missed the playoffs in Penney’s inaugural season in charge. At that stage, he’d faced harsh criticism and an in-depth review of how the seven-time defending champions had fallen so far from the top. He survived that inquiry to be reappointed for the 2025 season, under increasing public pressure to perform.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
2024 - ‘They tried to be, I guess, Crusader-like?’
Few things had gone the Crusaders’ way in 2024. They were crippled by an extensive injury list that meant Will Jordan and Braydon Ennor missed the entire campaign and a rolling rotation of five different first fives, among others. They had a run of six narrow losses (by 7 points or less) that may have been avoided with fewer injuries and greater on-field experience. Still, they only just missed out on the playoffs.
“We were one win away from finishing sixth last year, and then, if we finish sixth, we’re right in the hunt with the way we finished the campaign,” says Penney.
“I put on my report, quite bold letters, ‘I have 100% trust and belief that we can win the competition in 2025’,” he adds as the soup arrives.
The only way the 2024 season could escalate from disappointment to disaster was if lessons weren’t learned for the following season.
“The players reflected and, to a man, without being apologetic, they realised we’d just missed a beat. Collectively, it’s not apportioning blame on anyone. We just missed a beat around them taking some ownership and being responsible for what happens at the back end of the week so they could be responsible for it on game day,” says Penney.
“They tried to be, I guess, Crusader-like? But it just wasn’t quite there. And we could feel it.”
Comms - ‘I’m not a big believer in messaging’
That revelation of requiring greater ownership from the players evolved into a new communication plan for 2025. Front-loading the “chat”.
“We don’t do a captain’s chat before the game or the coach’s chat before the game anymore. We do all our messaging at the start of the week.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
“If they need a coach to motivate them before kickoff, we haven’t done the job well enough in preparing them, and they haven’t done well enough being inspired by what we do, but also by their teammates and what the jersey means,” says Penney.
Even the half-time hui is driven largely by the players.
“We’ve already discussed what we think,” he says, referring to his coaching staff.
“The first three or four minutes is recovery, breathing and getting as much nutrition back in as they can cope with. Conversations are starting to be had, and then it’s very much a direct feedback loop from the players.
“And there’s normally good alignment, they’re all over it. We don’t need to say too much.”
Penney also resists the temptation to send out instructions while the game is in play, as television shots of the Crusaders’ coaching box confirm. You’re unlikely to see Penney or his assistants barking instructions into a microphone.
“I’m not a big believer in messaging. You get very limited time to actually send the messages. You might send a message and then, two minutes later, the players have adjusted or something’s happened that makes that message now slightly irrelevant.
“And if you’re sending down a message that is quite obvious, [such as] the guy’s missed three tackles. ‘Go and tell such and such not to miss any more.’ Well, what good does that do?”
Instead of trying to manipulate the result of the match from the coaches’ box, Penney chooses to empower the 15 men who are playing it.
“I’m a big believer in supporting the players and growing the players with conversations and workshops or whatever you want to call them.”
That’s the work that’s done at the beginning of the week. It worked. The players bought it and paid back the coach’s trust in spades.
JOC (James O’Connor) - ‘We didn’t pay him a lot’
Having the right cattle helps. Experienced players who can lead on the field. The Crusaders aren’t short of them across the paddock, but they were lean in one crucial area in 2024.
After Richie Mo’unga left in 2023, the suitors for the number 10 jersey were young and exciting, but without crucial hours in the driver’s seat steering game plans at this level.
Enter James O’Connor, the mercurial Australian pivot with a chequered past and without a Super Rugby title on his CV.
“He came here for nothing. We didn’t pay him a lot to come - he came for all the right reasons,” says Penney with admiration.
“He’s a special bloke.”
O’Connor’s role in red and black was as the “closer”, coming on for the final 20 minutes or thereabouts. His clutch penalty kick in the 82nd minute to beat the Blues in the round 10 clash at Apollo Projects Stadium underlined his value to the team. The team’s response when the flags went up showed how much they valued him. The beaming grin on his coach’s face showed what he meant to the whole franchise.
“He’ll forever be a Crusader - and a winning one,” says Penney.
Off the field, O’Connor’s knowledge and willingness to teach were priceless.
“The two boys [Taha Kemara and Rivez Reihana] just flourished around him.
“It wasn’t overt, but it was just underlying confidence knowing that, if things didn’t quite work out, they had a guy that they could turn to, coaching staff could turn to. But it never occurred. It wasn’t one moment where we were going, ‘We need to get JOC in there because Taha is struggling or Rivez is struggling.’”
This year was O’Connor’s first and last Crusade – the 35-year-old has signed with Leicester in the United Kingdom for their 2025-26 season. But Penney believes his impact will be felt for seasons to come.
“It was just such a thrill to see those young men grow and develop, and we’ve got James White playing for Canterbury now, who had a season watching JOC and how he prepares, and we’ve got a nice wee stable [of 10s] here now.”
Seventeen years after making his Super Rugby debut, O’Connor finally won that elusive trophy – and reeled back the years with his on-field contributions.
“There was a comment someone made - ‘Geez, didn’t know you could tackle like that, JOC!’ and he said, ‘I just wanted to tackle for you boys’. There’s a couple of instances where he shouldered people and dominated collisions, and he hadn’t done that for a year or two, but he was just totally absorbed and immersed in the environment,” says the proud coach.
“It’s just such a pleasure to watch someone like him getting the thrill of his life at the back end.”
O’Connor capped his season by being recalled to the Wallabies’ starting XV for their drought-breaking 38-22 win against the Springboks in Johannesburg earlier this month.
As we finish lunch, Penney is greeted by a familiar face eager to congratulate him for the season he and the Crusaders have had. It’s his former under-15 coach, and Penney is quick to deflect praise to his team.
Another gentleman approaches and Penney makes time for him and others who offer a handshake and a “well done”.
2026 - ‘S***, we can be better!’
Penney’s look of unadulterated satisfaction was beaming from the coaches’ box at fulltime in the final.
“The joy on the boys’ faces and the staff and the organisation and the uplift that we had from the year before was just, that was such ... heartwarming,” says Penney, struggling to put those emotions into words.
In the days after the celebrations, he retreated to his bach in the Marlborough Sounds, where he reflected.
“Oh look, there’s a satisfaction, but it’s still, ‘S***, we can be better’.”
Penney talks about “a relentless pursuit of improvement” that burned within him even before he signed on as coach.
“I hadn’t committed, hadn’t decided what I was going to do, and I wanted to make sure the [2025] review was thoroughly done.
“But already, I was saying, ‘If I’m involved, how exciting it’s gonna be,’ you know? There’s some work we can do around playing under a roof, that could change the dynamics,” he says, alluding to their shiny new home in central Christchurch.
Next season the Crusaders will host the Super Round at One New Zealand Stadium over Anzac weekend. It will be their debut performance at the $683 million fortress, designed to keep the weather out.
There will also be some new faces in the playing ranks, as well as a familiar one in powerhouse midfielder Leicester Fainga’anuku. But the management team will be unchanged.
“The synergy that we’re going to get out of the coaching group, they’re going to have another full programme together,” says Penney.
This season saw the return of highly respected and hugely experienced assistant coach Brad Mooar. It was also James Marshall’s first season in charge of attack.
“So, having that group and not having any new faces in, I think, is just going to give us another leg up again.”
Penney the colleague - ‘He’s just got the biggest heart’
Mooar came to the Crusaders after Tamati Ellison resigned to work fully with the All Blacks. He knew Penney, but not as a colleague.
“I’ve known him for 30-odd years or longer, probably. It’s my first time working with him,” Mooar says.
“He’s very caring, you know? He cares about you as a person.”
It’s a theme. Attack coach Marshall echoes Mooar’s remarks.
“Penns is very kind and open. He’s just got the biggest heart, and he really shows that throughout the season.”
Penney’s way with players is no different.
“He talks to them, not just about footy,” says Marshall. “It’s about their life, and he spends a lot of time on that connection. He cares really deeply, and I think the players really feed off that.”
Both Mooar and Marshall speak at length about the trust that Penney has in them and the coaching team around them.
“What I love about Penns is he gives you confidence to do your job, especially as a coach. I’ve really enjoyed him having a lot of trust in me to do my role,” says Marshall, having completed his first year in charge of the Crusaders’ attack.
“I think it’s very open,” says Mooar.
“And certainly, the coaching office reflects that. What are we seeing? What’s the defence coach seeing in the attack or in the kicking or the attack seeing in the forwards? We all love the game and we all have different ways of looking at it, but that makes a real fertile ground if there’s the space to be able to work like that and operate like that. It’s certainly how we roll.”
Both credit Penney for fostering that environment.
“He loves a bit of banter, though!” adds Marshall.
Penney on Penney - ‘My ego erupted’
At 1.92m (6ft 4in), Penney is a big unit. The 101-game Canterbury loose forward still cuts an intimidating figure more than 30 years after hanging up his boots. As a player, he backed down to nobody and hit rucks without any thought of self.
As a coach and an older man, he’s a different beast.
“I probably had no self-awareness until about 25 years ago, and I did some psychometric testing. I got some help, it saved me, I reckon,” he says.
I ask him about his greatest attributes as a coach. He is frank in his response.
“I think I’ve got a broad range of knowledge around the game. Technically, I’m happy to discuss any element and coach any element, but I wouldn’t regard myself necessarily as a specialist anymore, because the game involves nuance. But I am able to support any element of the game.”
Without any further probing, he moves on to his own character traits.
“I think my biggest attribute, apart from that, is that I don’t have an ego.”
He pauses to correct himself.
“Of course, I’ve got an ego. I don’t like having my credentials questioned inappropriately by people.”
Penney is referring to a “hot mic” incident with a reporter, and the c-bomb he dropped in 2024.
“So that was a moment where my ego erupted,” he admits.
In the appropriate environment of a Crusaders meeting, it’s a different story, he says.
“I don’t mind if I get challenged and have to change tack because I’m wrong. If it’s the right thing, it’s the right thing. Team first.”
Almost as surprising as his lunch choice is his choice of words around winning – or rather, losing.
“I love to win. I love to win everything, but it’s not as concerning for me.”
He corrects himself again, saying that, as a high-performance coach, “of course it is”. But he lists other elements that are just as crucial to him.
“The growth of the coaches, watching people getting joy about what they do. I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s genuine.
“If we’re not winning, I still love the boys as much as I did when we didn’t win.”
The public may not always share that sentiment, but, going by the congratulations the coach received in one short lunch, they certainly love him and his team when they are winning.
As we wrap up our chat, Penney ensures we return our dishes to the counter. Sure, people are watching, but I get the feeling he’d do the same if the place was empty.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.
Latest from Christchurch
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.