GLASGOW WARRIORS head coach Dave Rennie has insisted his appointment as Australia’s national coach will not distract from his remaining time at Warriors.

After many months of rumours, Rennie was finally confirmed this week as taking over from Michael Cheika as Wallabies head coach, but with him not taking up his new post until the end of the season in Scotland, he still has much work to do before he heads down under.

And Rennie is in no doubt that his new role will not make him lose focus on his current job.

“There’s been speculation for a long time and so it’s good to get the news out there and I can focus on Glasgow,” he said.

“I’ve said from the start that I’d made a commitment here at Glasgow so it was important to me to see it out. I know there’s situations where other coaches maybe jumped for something better or greener grass but it was important to me to see this out and Australia understood that.”

“With the time difference, it actually works out pretty well. I’ll get all my Glasgow work done and then you can jump on a call at 10pm and get some planning done with the guys who are on the ground over there.”

Rennie will have the opportunity to build his own team inside the Australia set-up but he has not, he says, made any decisions as to his backroom team just yet, with appointments only being made after careful consideration.

“We’ve talked about support staff – a number of them come to the end of their contracts along with Michael Cheika,” said Rennie.

“There’s been a full review going on and Scott Johnson has been over there so I’ve been quizzing him about who is worth keeping and extending and what changes we need to make.

“It’s important we have a strong Australian flavour in there. I’ve always surrounded myself with good people and that’s important because I’ll be here (in Glasgow) for another 7 months.”

Rennie’s immediate concern is his side’s European Champions Cup clash with Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park this afternoon. Both sides won their opening fixtures in the competition, with Warriors defeating Sale Sharks and Exeter getting the better of La Rochelle last weekend and so a second win for either team would go a long way in deciding who will top the group.

Rennie has made just one chage to the side that faced Sale last week, with Chris Fusaro coming into the side in place of fellow openside Callum Gibbins.

And there is an extra dimension to this tie, with former Warriors full-back, Stuart Hogg now playing his trade with Exeter. Hogg was a Warriors stalwart, wearing their colours for nine years before heading down south in the summer, and Rennie is in no doubt as to the quality of the 27-year-old.

“We love him,” he said.

“He had a pretty good run with us and showed his class. It’s ironic that we end up in the same pool. We know a lot about him and we know we’ll have to be pretty sharp to nullify him.

“We’re going to have to do a good job on Hoggy and limit his opportunities. He’s got a really good skill set - his ability to distribute and kick well, and create opportunities for others.”

However, Rennie was quick to point out that Hogg is not the only threat in the Exeter team and while he is optimistic his side can put on a strong showing, he knows the English side, who were runners-up in last year’s Premiership, will pose some tough questions.

“We’ll go down there confident. We’ll throw everything at them and we’ve got a game that we think can challenge them,” he said.

“We showed last week that we’ve got a pack that can compete with the best, so that’s going to be important. They’re another level up in regards to set piece, so we’ll have to be really good there.

“They’re pretty good at building pressure and hanging on to ball for long periods of time. They’ll ask questions of our defence. They’ve got a number of guys who can kick well and kick long, so we’re going to have to win kicking battles.

“We know if we can hang on to the ball, we can ask questions of their defence. They are very good at filling the field and we’re going to have to shake that defence.”