Dave Rennie had his eye on Glasgow Warriors for four years before agreeing to become the club's new head coach because of the friendship he struck up with Gregor Townsend.

Townsend worked with Rennie at the Chiefs in New Zealand after he left his job as Scotland assistant coach in 2012.

The pair quickly bonded over coaching styles that favour fast, attacking rugby, and Rennie began taking an interest in the Warriors' fortunes when Townsend was later appointed head coach.

Speaking as he arrived in Scotland to take up the head coach role at Scotstoun, Rennie said: "I've talked for a number of years about coaching overseas and the wife and I seeing a little bit more of the world.

"Gregor [Townsend] spent a little bit of time with the Chiefs around 2012 and I got to know him pretty well so I have taken a keen interest in Glasgow ever since.

"So when I had a look at the opportunity here I saw good people, a good culture and Gregor has done a great job here."

He added: "[The squad] is an aspirational group of men and I just thought it was a really good fit.

"I'm pretty passionate - I work hard and I really care about the athlete. That's important to me, if you're that way inclined you are going to get a good response from the boys.

"We will put a lot of time into them and hopefully we'll get some good results from them."

The New Zealander enjoyed huge success in Hamilton, leading the Chiefs to their first Super Rugby title in his maiden season at the Waikato Stadium.

His reputation in his homeland has him touted as a potential successor to Steve Hansen in charge of the All Blacks.

When asked by the Scottish media if his decision to move away came down to Hansen's decision to stay in post until 2019, Rennie would only say: "No, not really."

Rennie coached the Chiefs to a second straight Super Rugby title in 2013 but, after only arriving late in the summer and with assistant coaches Jason O'Halloran, Jonathan Humphreys and Mike Blair having taken the vast majority of pre-season preparations, Rennie was keen to state his targets are not short-term.

The 53-year-old said: "I'm not going to set any lofty targets but the key is that we've done a lot of recruitment and a lot of work on retention as he had a lot of Scottish international boys out of contract.

"It was important to keep them here and then set up a quality management group because with my commitment to the Chiefs I was going to be arriving at the last minute.

"There has been an enormous amount of work done by [the backroom staff]."

Asked if it was important to put his own "stamp" on the group, with the likes of Callum Gibbins and Lelia Masaga arriving from New Zealand, Rennie said: "I'm not sure it is my stamp, because we were all involved in selecting the players.

"There is the odd player who I know personally which made it a bit easier to get them over here. But it has been a bit of a team effort."

One player Rennie would have liked to persuade back to Scotland is his former Chiefs scrum-half Finlay Christie.

The Borders-born 21-year-old has lived in New Zealand since the age of seven and was given his chance in Super Rugby by Rennie at the Chiefs.

This summer Christie chose to move to rival franchise the Hurricanes, placing hopes of persuading him to commit to Scotland as his international team in jeopardy.

Residency rules mean he could be capped by the All Blacks.

While Rennie did not reference Christie by name, he did say: "There are a handful of guys who have left the Chiefs and gone elsewhere when it would've been nice to try to drag them over here.

"But in the end we're happy with the squad we've got."

There may be a new face in charge but the targets for the Warriors will remain high - a run at the Pro 14 play-offs and progress in Europe, where the team last year achieved its first appearance in the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

Rennie said: "Ultimately we have to be consistent enough to be in the race at the end of it.

"You don't have to be the best team in the first three weeks of competition, you need to hit form at the right time, get to the play-offs and be the best team over 80 minutes three weeks in a row.

Asked specifically about the Champions Cup, where Warriors will meet English champions Exeter, Pro 12 semi-finalists Leinster and French quarter-finalists Montpellier, the coach joked: "Yeah, we've got a pretty easy pool.

"Look, we have big aspirations so there is a bit of juggling to do regarding our first game in Europe as it is the week after we come back from Africa.

"It was a great effort from Glasgow [in the Champions Cup] last year but we have to perform well in that pool first of all."