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Andrew Mehrtens, former All Black and Stan rugby commentator, speaks at the launch of the Super Rugby Australia season at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.
Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens defended Waratahs coach Rob Penney after a beating at Super Rugby as he recalled the day his former Canterbury teammate accidentally “could have killed me in a ruck”
Penney, Mehrtens’ first captain at Canterbury in 1993, watched as his Waratahs team was smoked 41-7 by a Reds team coached by former Crusaders and the All Blacks blocked Brad Thorn in the first round of Super Rugby Australia competition. Saturday night.
But Mehrtens, now a Sydney-based television rugby commentator, hopes Penney will bounce back from that setback, though he jokingly warned the Waratahs of what could happen after the Reds are reported this week.
RUGBY.COM.AU
Waratahs coach Rob Penney talks about his team’s defeat.
In his new column for him Sydney morning herald, Mehrtens wrote that Penney had been “one of my mentors in my early professional rugby days, I kept in touch with him over the years and cannot speak highly of him.”
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Except for the day he could have killed me.
Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images
Waratah’s Kiwi coach Rob Penney.
“Playing North Harbor, one of the best teams in New Zealand at the time, I was absolutely crushed in an inning by former All Black Frank Bunce and Ron Williams. As I lay on the ground with two players on top of me, the three of us were crushed by a blurry red and black beam. They hit me so hard that I rolled forward and the ball spat on our side of the ruck. It was Penz.
“He was motionless on the ground and he was panting, thinking he was lucky to be alive. Penz tugged at my shirt, picked me up and said, “Come on young man, let’s move on to the next one.”
“Metaphorically speaking, I hope he will do the same with a New South Wales team that fell short against the Reds in a record loss on Friday.”
Mehrtens pointed out to his Australian readers that Penney had coached Canterbury to four New Zealand provincial titles and guided New Zealand’s U-20 team to a junior world final.
Ross Setford
Canterbury coach Rob Penney celebrates with Nasi Manu after his victory in the 2009 NPC rugby final.
He had also “developed a helpful assistant coach named Scott Robertson, who won three straight Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders, in addition to last year’s Aotearoa competition.”
Mehrtens said that Penney had played a role in establishing the foundation from which the Crusaders evolved to become Super Rugby’s most successful franchise.
Penney played 101 games for Canterbury as number 8 between 1985 and 1994, and was captain of the team in 1992-93.
He is in his second year as the Waratahs coach after coaching Ireland’s Munster province and Japan’s NTT Communications Shining Arcs club.
