Clark Laidlaw explains how Jason Holland's Hurricanes return came about

Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw has outlined the timeline of ex-All Blacks attack coach Jason Holland’s re-appointment at the Wellington club, saying it all came together once Holland had already confirmed his exit from the national team setup.

Holland didn’t waste much time confirming his new role after leaving Scott Robertson’s staff. While questions remain about the exact details of his departure, Laidlaw has kept his curiosity in check.

The coach could, however, provide clarity on what the new role entails and tell the story of how it came about.

“Alfie (Holland) and I have been in continuous contact since I started the job. He was one of the first people I met when I came down to Wellington,” Laidlaw told Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB.

“Obviously, with his role with the All Blacks, we’ve often had conversations over a coffee, so I just reached out to him for a yarn when he decided not to extend with the All Blacks. I shared the idea that we were looking for someone, now the squad has gone up to 50 players with the extended wider training groups, plus we’ve got two or three U20 players with us at the moment, so that’s 53.

“So, we were looking for a coach to come in and support us in some capacity, but with Alfie’s previous experience and relationships here, and his obvious expertise, that conversation then developed into a serious chat about whether we could make this work and what his plans were post-All Blacks.

“And I guess we’ve arrived at today, where he’s been in two days this week helping coach. It’s exciting.”

While the move from the All Blacks back to the Hurricanes, where Holland had previously worked through the coaching ranks at Super Rugby level, can be seen as a step down of sorts, Holland is said to be excited to be back in Super Rugby as an assistant.

Laidlaw also noted there was no ego at play among any coach involved, and Holland would slot back into his specialised area of attack, where he’d work alongside Brad Cooper.

“It’s a big portfolio when it comes to all different types of attack and different ways we gain possession.

“Having Bryn (Evans) as the All Blacks lineout coach, between those three, we’re really building our attacking game. So we’re working through that now with Coops, Bryn, and Alfie.

“We genuinely have a real collaborative approach with our coaching anyway, and try to co-coach different areas of the game. But in particular for him, the phase attack, turnover attack, counterattack, the areas that take a lot of work, a lot of analysis, he can help us with that. That frees us all up to share the workload across the squad.”