But even as reaction from fans and media suggested Penney’s position was untenable, the Crusaders held firm in their belief he was the right man to lead the club.
At the time, chief executive Colin Mansbridge confirmed firing Penney mid-season was not going to happen. And while his fate was always going to be determined by an end-of-season review, the Crusaders’ checks and balances saw them unequivocally back him to right the wrongs of 2024.
That faith has been rewarded. After 10 rounds of the 2025 season, the Crusaders sit second on the table after nine matches played, second only to the Chiefs, on points differential.
Their seven wins are more than they achieved all last season, with their only defeats being against the Chiefs and a shock home loss to Moana Pasifika.
The Crusaders would have every right to say “we told you so” in backing Penney. Instead, Mansbridge emphasises that the difficulties of 2024 were greater than just the head coach.
“There’s a whole lot of reasons why we think our performances weren’t up to the standard we wanted last year,” he told the Herald.
“Rob was responsible for some of those. Many of us were responsible for others. When you start apportioning blame, if that’s the right phrase, it was fairly well spread.
“Most of the things that were in Rob’s control, he did a very good job of, including holding the shed.
“I was really surprised how well [the team] were motivated, how hard they tried, how it was ‘next job’. They were on task all year.
“It’s very hard to sack a coach in that context.”
While Mansbridge concedes that no change was off the table for 2025, the Crusaders made sure to look at every available piece of information to make the best decision possible.
The team sought the expertise of Dr Richard Young, a veteran of multiple high-performance environments, including several Olympic campaigns, as well as the data-driven insights of Gain Line Analytics, to truly understand why things unfolded the way they did.
In particular, Gain Line’s insights found the Crusaders struggled with a lack of cohesion.
The team had been hit not only by the loss of Robertson, but of Sam Whitelock and Richie Mo’unga – two of the most decorated players in Super Rugby’s history, not just the Crusaders’.
Further, Codie Taylor missed a large chunk of the season on a non-playing sabbatical, while fellow All Blacks Scott Barrett, Will Jordan, Braydon Ennor and Wales international Leigh Halfpenney were also plagued by injuries.
Considering that mitigation, Gain Line’s findings had the Crusaders’ ninth-placed finish as one spot higher than they should have been.
“We were struggling to put combinations together,” Mansbridge continued. “It’s not that the individual athletes aren’t good enough. It’s putting athletes together who’ve played a lot together.
“Ironically, notwithstanding, we were probably at our least cohesive we’d been for a few seasons. The opposition teams that were being fielded against us were as cohesive as they’d been fielding.
“We didn’t underperform our cohesion. We slightly outperformed. There are a whole lot of reasons for that in terms of availability. Some of those things were the subject of our review as well.”
Now, having made that call, the Crusaders’ loyalty to Penney has been rewarded and the backing of the plan in place when he was appointed at the end of 2023 is coming to fruition.
The elevation to captain has seen David Havili take his game to a new level, while Jordan remains a Super Rugby force, even after missing all of last season.
Inexperienced players such as hooker Ioane Moananu and lock Antonio Shalfoon have become competition leaders, while the signing of Wallabies veteran James O’Connor has been a revelation, with his experience clearly benefiting the younger players around him.
Barring an end-of-season implosion, the Crusaders will almost certainly finish in a top-six finals spot, with no side in the competition’s history boasting a better record in knockout matches.
“If I look at this season, for us, there’s not a lot of difference in some respects to last season,” Mansbridge said.
“There are some 80th-minute results, and 82nd-minute results, that if they’d gone the other way, the narrative wouldn’t be much different.
“If I look at some of the other coaches who are struggling – and struggling is the wrong word – where results are moving against them, there’s not this cult of personality, it’s a system. There are lots of little bits in the system and a little bit of luck. You make your own luck in the end.
“This season for us, we’ve pushed 40 to 50 buttons, flicked 40 to 50 switches, we’ve had a little bit of luck, and we’ve managed to make it when it counts. You do all those things, and you’re in a slightly better position than you were last year.”
For Penney, this year does serve as vindication. The toll that last season took on the 60-year-old was clear to see, as evidenced by an ill-fated hot mic after an exchange with a TVNZ reporter.
And while Penney and Mansbridge were quick to hold their hands up in saying that moment didn’t live up to what’s expected of the Crusaders, it showed the effect poor results were having.
But now that the Crusaders have turned a very significant corner, Mansbridge couldn’t be happier for his charge.
“Personally, I’m stoked for him. From his playing days, he’d be renowned as tough and rugged with that strength of character.
“When you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, you feel an obligation to lift everybody. That’s a heavy burden to carry.
“He’s very generous, he cares a lot about people, he’s desperate to see people grow. When he’s seeing people struggle, that impacts him. He’s much more sensitive than the grumpy old bugger you see sometimes.”
Now, with a return to finals football looming, the only question around Penney is what’s next?
The original two-year contract he signed with the Crusaders has months left to run.
And while there is no indication he will move on at the end of 2025, the incumbent coach is opting to put his own future to the side – temporarily – to let his team focus on the here and now.
“He doesn’t want to talk about it, this is the sort of bloke he is,” Mansbridge said.
“Whenever you’re dropping hints or trying to talk about it, he’s just saying ‘let’s get through this season’. He is laser-focused on this team, this year. He doesn’t want any distractions in his way.
“We’re just respecting his decision. We did say at the start of the year that this year we’d leave any review until the end, and we’d do it as professionally as we could.
“Rob’s been reasonably unequivocal with me. When I’ve gone to broach the subject, his hand has gone up. ‘Let’s just focus on this group, this year’. That’s all he’s been saying.”
Alex Powell is a sports journalist for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.
