Rennie: I was never approached for Bok job

Cape Town - Chiefs coach Dave Rennie says he was never contacted by SA Rugby over the Springbok coaching job. 

With Allister Coetzee having guided the Boks to four wins from 12 in 2016, reports surfaced in December last year suggesting that SA Rugby was lining up a bold move for Rennie. 

The speculation was met with excitement, but the obvious major stumbling block was the fact that Rennie had already signed a deal with the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland that was set to begin after the completion of this year's Super Rugby. 

As it turned out, of course, SA Rugby opted to keep faith in Coetzee. 

On Wednesday in Cape Town ahead of the Chiefs' showdown with the Stormers at Newlands on Saturday, Rennie confirmed that there was absolutely no communication from SA Rugby. 

"There have been lots of things that have happened in the media over the last six months that have been fictitious," Rennie said. 

Another link between Rennie and South Africa came in the form of a curious Bulls statement on Monday that provided a list of "consultants" that had worked with the Pretoria-based franchise this season. 

The last name on that list was that of Rennie's, and he was said to have shared "information sessions" with the current Bulls coaching staff. 

The Bulls lost to the Chiefs in Hamilton last weekend and they also met the 2012 and 2013 Super Rugby champions in a pre-season friendly in Brisbane in February. 

But, when asked about his relationship with the Bulls, Rennie put things into perspective. 

"I had a beer with Nollis (Marais, coach) and Pine (Pienaar, assistant coach) after the Brisbane Tens," Rennie explained.

"We played them in a game over there, so we caught up and had a beer the other night (Saturday) ... not sharing any trade secrets but we talked a lot about pre-season and how we do things and they do things. 

"We talked about schedule and how their weeks run. It was just a chance to learn from each other. I've been in contact with those guys since then.

"It's pretty common. I know when Allister was coaching here I would catch up and have a beer with him as well, no doubt. In fact, we probably will before the weekend."