Rob Penney: “It wasn’t about who I was, it was about my effect on other people”

Rob Penney just finished his 2nd year as head coach of the Crusaders. 

Year One: the team didn't make it to the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade. 

Year Two: complete turnaround, won the championship.

Huge credit of course has to go to Colin Mansbridge, Angus Gardiner, Brent Francis, and the entire leadership team for keeping their cool, understanding what needed to be done, and staying the course. But of course Rob was the man at the centre of the storm — and he handled it about as well as a mortal red-blooded human could handle it.

In this episode, Rob talks about:

• The shift from being driven by hate for the enemy to being driven by love of the game
• How he learned to cope with the pressure of professional coaching
• What happened in the off-season to turn things around from 2024 to 2025

Hunger & Heart is brought to you by the Crusaders Leadership Programme™. Whether you're coaching under-5s or a professional team, we all want the same thing: to build cultures of trust, get the best out of our people, and grow players into leaders.

The Crusaders Leadership Programme™ lets you get up close and personal with some of the greatest rugby legends of all time — people like Sir Wayne Smith, Sam Whitelock, and Kieran Read. You’ll get their secrets for building high-trust, high-performing teams, on the rugby pitch or in the boardroom.

Hunger & Heart listeners get 10% off the full price of the program. Use the code HUNGER at checkout. Find out more: crusadersleadership.com

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