Rob Penney

Rob Penney (born 27 April 1964) is a former New Zealand rugby union player and current head coach at Japanese team NTT Shining Arcs.

Penney is a former head coach of Canterbury rugby in New Zealand from 2006 to 2011, and led them to win four ITM Cup's in a row. He is also the former coach of the New Zealand under-20 rugby union team, a position he left after the 2012 IRB Junior World Championship.

On 3 May 2012, it was announced that Penney would be the new Munster new head coach, signing a two-year contract. He started in the role in July 2012 with Anthony Foley remaining on as forwards coach. On appointing Penney, Munster rugby CEO Garrett Fitzgerald said; "We conducted a thorough search to find a replacement for Tony McGahan and were delighted with the calibre of the candidates".

Penney took charge of his first competitive game as Munster coach on 1 September 2012, in a Rabo Direct Pro 12 match against Edinburgh Rugby at Murrayfield. Despite a slow start, Munster won the game 23–18, to get his coaching career with Munster off to a winning start. Penney's Munster side had a surprise loss in the 2012–13 Heineken Cup on 13 October 2012, when they threw away an early lead against Racing Métro 92 and lost the game 22–17, but crucially secured a losing bonus point. Munster got their campaign back on track against Edinburgh Rugby the next week with a bonus point victory, winning 33–0 on the day and leaving themselves in a strong position to get out of the group stages. A victory and a loss followed in Munster's next two Heineken Cup matches, both against Saracens. Munster secured qualification for the quarter-finals in their last match against Racing Métro 92, beating them 29–6 to arrange a quarter-final against Harlequins F.C.. Munster, despite being massive underdogs, beat Harlequins 18–12 to reach the semi-final. Munster lost the semi-final 16–10 to ASM Clermont Auvergne.

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