DAVE RENNIE was not everybody’s cup of tea during his three seasons as head coach at Glasgow Warriors. A number of former players have spoken out since his departure in the summer of 2020 to take charge of Australia about their frustration at not being given a proper chance to prove themselves by the New Zealander, with Huw Jones the most obvious – but by no means only – example of a star which faded during that period. 

But there are two sides to every coin, and Matt Fagerson is one of Rennie’s former charges who has a far more positive view of the coach, so the No8 will be looking forward to catching up with his old boss at Murrayfield this Sunday, when the Wallabies provide the opposition in Scotland’s second match of their four-game Autumn series. 

“I'm very fond of Dave,” said the 23-year-old, who first broke into the Warriors team the season before Rennie arrived at Scotstoun but established himself as a front-liner under his guidance.  

“I thought he was a great coach, and he was really good to me. One of the things I took from Dave was his player management to me personally. If I was playing poorly, he would tell me, and if I was playing well, he would tell me that as well.  

“We’d have some good honest discussions about things to work on, things I was doing well, why he was picking me and sometimes why I missed out. I really respected that.  

“My footwork was probably a big thing for him. He quite liked the fact I could get soft shoulders here and there.” 

There is as many as 13 players who played under Rennie at Glasgow in with a good shout of being in Scotland’s 23-man match-day squad against Australia on Sunday. Meanwhile, Wallabies defence coach Matt Taylor and scrum coach Petrus du Plessis had spells on the staff at Scotstoun. So, there is going to be a fair bit of familiarity between the two sides. 

“I think there are aspects of knowing how he wants his team to play, things that he holds dear to his heart in terms of tactics and the way you go about your business,” replied Fagerson, when asked if this shared history can be a help or a hindrance on Sunday. “I think he has put his own spin on Australian rugby and where he wants them to go.  

“They love to play from deep, they are pretty brutal in contact, and they have some great jackalers as well. I thought he was a brilliant coach, a play-before-you-kick sort of coach, and he brought that into the whole squad. He's doing an amazing job with Australia. 

“Matt [Taylor] was there in my first year this at Glasgow and obviously he was a Scotland coach for a couple of years,” he continued. “He knew exactly what he wanted from his defence. He was very the big on boys going low in the tackle. Getting off the line and putting the first receiver under pressure was huge for him. He was a good coach but it has been good to have a fresh set of eyes from Steve Tandy [who took over as Scotland defence coach following the 2019 World Cup].  

“Petrus took the Glasgow scrum to new levels when he came to the club. He did a lot to work with Scotland before Pieter came in. I've got a lot of time for Petrus. He was a great guy at Glasgow, a really good man. 

“Australia have just won five games in a row, and they've beaten the world champions twice. Clearly their credentials are way ahead at the minute. They have been playing really well and are developing as a team so it will be a massive challenge for us, but one I'm really looking forward to. 

“I don't think there is anything massive we need to sort out [from last saturday's Tonga game]. The set-piece was good at times and our defence and attack were really good in open play. One area we could look at is that we got beaten a couple of times on the edge, so we just have to tidy a few things up. Not massive errors, just positional clarity kind of things. There wasn't too much to have a look at. 

“I think we need to trust in our systems," Fagerson concluded. “For the past couple of Six Nations we had a really good defence. If we trust in what we do well we will hopefully come out with a good result. We have a lot of attacking threats, players all over the park with some great individual talent. If we can pull all that together it will be a pretty good occasion and hopefully we’ll get a win.”