Astute recruitment by Vern Cotter lands Fiji one of the most experienced coaching groups south of the equator
While Fiji have always been blessed with players of outstanding potential, the upcoming Vern Cotter era could be when the island nation really stake their claim to be a global superpower of the game thanks to an exceptional coaching group.
Cotter, the most successful Scotland national coach since rugby turned professional, has spent the past three seasons with Montpellier and was named new coach of the Flying Fijians in January this year. His final season in France was cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic which has granted the New Zealander ample time to plan for the upcoming contracted international season.
That planning has included recruiting some of the best rugby brains in the business to support the exceptional cattle that Fiji will be able to march out when this year’s internationals finally kick off.
Cotter will be joined at Fiji by Jason Ryan, Darryl Gibson and former referee Glen Jackson.
Ryan is in his fourth season as forwards coach of the Crusaders and is contracted to the Super Rugby champions until next year. Under his tutelage, the side have secured three championships and are in pole-position to take out the NZ-only Aoteroa competition.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDM1735A0DC/
Gibson also tasted plenty of success with the Crusaders, winning four titles as a player during his seven seasons with the team. More recently, Gibson was head coach with the Waratahs until 2019.
Arguably the most unusual recruit is Jackson, a former Chiefs player who was a professional referee for the better part of 10 years, only hanging up his whistle in 2019.
Jackson’s appointment will give the Fijians some direct insight into how the game is currently being refereed – something few teams are lucky enough to have.
“Jacko has come from the dark side – he’s going to join our coaching group after being a referee for a number of years,” Cotter told the New Zealand Herald. “He’s got a big job in front of him. He’ll also be liaising with referees but mostly he’ll be giving our players an understanding of what referees see. I can’t hold him back he’s so enthusiastic about the whole thing.
Cotter also revealed that he has his sights set on some of the talented Super Rugby Aotearoa stars who are eligible to play for Fiji.
“There’s guys that have shown really good form,” Cotter said. “Alex Hodgman from the Blues has gone really well. [Chiefs loose forward Pita Gus] Sowakula is also playing well.
“There’s some really good players we’d love to be able to access. The guy we’d love to get is Hoskins Sotutu, but I think Ian Foster has probably got his eye on him. If Fozzie doesn’t pick him, he is welcome to come and play for Fiji.”
Fiji were due to play Australia during the July international window as well as Wales, Georgia and the new All Blacks XV on their end of year tour. All four matches have been cancelled due to the global pandemic, however the island side are on the cusp of joining the Six Nations teams for an end of year tournament. The Pacific Nations Cup has also been pushed back until October.
Recent speculation surrounding Fiji led to @chrisjonespress getting clarification from the Six Nations ???https://t.co/teldA6LOOZ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) July 24, 2020
While Cotter says nothing is confirmed yet, he’s still bemused that his team are due to be grouped with England, Ireland and Wales in the end of year competition.
“The tournament is still not 100 per cent confirmed in November in Europe,” Cotter said. “It changes daily which is only natural because it’s an uncertain landscape. We’ll be delighted to be involved but we’re waiting for the boxes to be ticked.
“I just wonder how we got into the pool with England, Wales and Ireland. Japan, Italy and Scotland are all ranked lower in World Rugby rankings than the teams in ours.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Ever so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to comments