Rob Penney: Crusaders Coach on the appointment of David Havili as the Super Rugby captain

David Havili will captain the Crusaders for the upcoming Super Rugby season. 

Havili will become the first back to captain Super Rugby’s most successful franchise, replacing Scott Barrett who held the role. 

Lesley Murdoch spoke with Coach Rob Penney about the decision to appoint Havili. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, Rob. First of all, happy new year and a
new captain.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Happy new year to you too, Leslie and all your listeners. Yeah,
excited to announce Davy today and the response that the
group gave him when we officially announced it to the
playing group was extraordinary. So yeah, positives all around.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
What does he bring to the captain c He was a.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Very humble man with a deep care and love for
this organization and the people within it. His family orientated,
so that whole bit around getting people well connected and
I guess getting them all aligned is a big strength
of his. And he'll be He's a very smart rugby man.

(00:43):
He's a a student of the game, so to speak,
and so he'll bring a lot of his own flare
and his own his own thoughts to that area as well.
So a broad range of skills Leslie will bring to
that group.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Did it take long to decide that he was the man?

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Not really, you know, obviously, when when Scudo's such an
important part here and as a magnificent leader in his
own right, indicated that it was going to be too
tough for him to do both jobs, that process started
to open up a lot of opportunities for discussions around
who next, And it quickly became apparent after the discussions

(01:27):
that Davey was to the forefront and that just got
embedded over the pre Christmas break and yeah, so it's
concluded now.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
So it's your decision rather than player's decision, or it's
a leadership team.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yeah, very much, a cohesive, collaborative process. Lots of discussions
from everyone in this office through to you know, even
some of the younger men, not not always an official capacity,
just testing the waters. And yeah, it was evident, evident

(02:00):
that Davy was the man to do the job for us.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
So you do have a leadership team that within the team,
don't you.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Of course, yes, yes, and that'll become a parent in
the next week as Davy beds in and gets the
people around him that he wants.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Yeah, over the Christmas break a new year, how has
everything panned out for you? And they've had a wee
bit of a break the Crusader training group.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, we broke up on the twentieth of December and
got back on the sixth of jan So good two
week break. You know, you can only gauge by the
GPS results that the boys come back with, and the
first test was the Bronco and we've got a couple

(02:49):
of records out of that, so that's always a good indicator.
You know, we're in reasonable shape physically, and we're layering
in a bit more resilience into that with some of
the some of the action that we're doing on the
grass and in the gym and on the dojo Matt
and with the boxing boys coming in, so we feel

(03:11):
as they were in physically good shape and now it's
you know, it's betting in the rugby stuff, which the
coaching stuff are doing an amazing job with really stepping
up into that area across the board and you know,
ensuring that the the heads are in good space for
the battle.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
Who broke the records in the Bronco. We love knowing
who wins the tests.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, well Kyle Preston did a did it a four?
I think it was a four to fifteenish before Christmas?
And did a four to eleven after Yeah, after the
break And it's.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
A record, isn't it? Because I think Boden Barrett had
four twelve or something.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
And I think that I think the record is four
to nine by a guy in Ireland. But yeah, I mean,
couldn't I we're splitting here is when you're at that level,
you're doing pretty well. And we had a number of
other people do PBS and also doing PBS in the gym,
which is it's a lovely sign.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
It's fantastic, really good and everything else sitting well for
you at the stage.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
Seems to be Leslie. We haven't played a game yet,
Rubber hasn't it the road. We're preparing for an internal
next Friday, and then we've got the Blues at Kurwee
Friday week and that's going to come around really quickly
and excited about that. You know the Blues will bring
out like us, we'll have a minus. They're all blacks probably,
and but it will be a great spectacle and you know,

(04:40):
being able to honor kerwe with you know that. I
guess it's Don Hayes, the mayor of Kurwee. Still anyway,
go out there and for our first official hitout is
exciting for us. And it's only two weeks away. Davies
and slipped into the role already seamlessly. And and as
you say, the leadership group will support them one hundred

(05:02):
percent because they've got a lot of faith in them
and preparing for Friday, the fourteenth, Valentine's Date. Bring your
loved ones down to the park and we'll see what
we can do against the.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
Canes and anyone else.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Yes, that's right.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
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