'Coaching at that level is very different to what most people think'

- A coach with both head coaching and international experience should have been hired as “head coach”. (Hansen has none of the former and very little of the latter, confirmed by Robertson’s learning on the job comments)

Yes to add to SCs point of course Hansen was supposedly under this ‘Razor’ framework at the Crusaders, so was the “Head Coach” there.

- NZR shouldn’t have made coaches apply with a team of assistants pitting groups of coaches against each other. (Because of this we missed out on experienced assistants going elsewhere (Tony Brown)

Agreed, but again, they don’t. The assistants aren’t pitted against each other, the exact same group of assistant could be part of all the prospective coaches teams, and are only prospective as in “these are the guys I want”.

For instance Tony Brown followed Jamie Joseph in resigning with Japan in 2019 because NZR delayed the interview process. Even Foster wanted both JJ and TB while JJ hat was in the mix himself! So the whole process is actually quite flexible.

"Tony made his call, it was a tough phone call to take. We'd planned for a while to work together, he's shown his hand with Jamie and shown his loyalties, I appreciate it was a tough call for him to make to me," Robertson said.

So the whole process is actually quite flexible, Robinson himself said after appointing Razor that they want to look at the assistants themselves later to ensure theyre worthy.

"In regards to a team, we were mainly focused on selecting a head coach," Robinson said. "Certainly we gained some insights in terms of the groups of people candidates might work with but at the same time they understand that's a process we want to have some sort of input and say in."

This is the kicker; What was thought to be a factor last time, in 2019

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) ultimately selected Ian Foster for the head coach role after the 2019 World Cup, partly due to the board's perception that Robertson's proposed team lacked experience at the international level. 

Lol. Here I suppose we have the exact reason that Hansen doubled up his Super job with an international spot under JJ!

Did they make a mistake in thinking that was enough? Seen as how they signed the team anyway, and how quickly Ryan helped (actually he went to Fiji first didn’t he) did they make a mistake in thinking it was a factor then? We certainly had an article from Razor saying it’s all or nothing in regards to him not wanting to join the ABs first as an assistant, so I guess he shipped Hansen off?

So back to flexibility anyway, NZR f$cked around in 2019, so this time they decided they needed to go early (personally it should be done more than a year out from a WC imo though) in 2023, fair enough. Problem is Razor probably had to come up with a team quickly in 2022, and at the time made sense to switch in MacDonald for Tony Brown (given he wouldn’t leave Japan/JJ), and as he says Razor is a loyal guy, so stuck with this group he formed instead of now being able to negotiate with high profile options for 2024 (remember anyone joining him in August 2022 would have needed to exit their current role). It’s reasonable to remedy the key factor in why we had to deal with problems in Fosters reign, but that incident created another problem (and if they try anything midway through again JJ won’t have his righthand man either, another calamity) for this cycle they might have been a bit naive in not predicting.

So I have to disagree with your last point as well, I think you’ll find most high profile jobs are down well out. I just think NZR were cramped for time and they would have liked to also advertise earlier, so that everyones not scrambling for a job in the next 8 months. This does not inhibit their options in the same way you suggest. Sure not everyone (like a Schimdt) would want to commit to another job 12-14 months out but I think yuo’ll be able to get most aspiring AB coaches to, and if the current head coach isn’t doing well enough in those first three yeaers, tough luck buddy you can’t rely on a saving your job by winning one thing at the end of your four year period.

If you are going to rant, try to get your facts correct first.

Scott Hansen was an assistant coach for Japan under Jamie Joseph (with Tony Brown) for 4 years (2020-2023) including the 2023 RWC in France. Hansen worked with Crusaders under Razor from January to June and then switched to Japan from July to November.

So despite all the ridiculously inaccurate whining from NZ media that no one on Razor’s coaching staff has international experience, Hansen has 4 years of international coaching experience, in addition to Jason Ryan’s 2 years under Foster and Joe Schmidt.

He certainly still has the ire of many though B!

They have assistants but still have varying degrees of involvement in each level. Compare Bill Belichick/Andy Reid, both of whom directly call plays and set game plans for all of these assistants to someone like Dan Campbell who relies a lot on his assistants to the point where it’s very noticeable when he started calling the plays. Razor has seemed more like the latter than the former.

Rassie Erasmus does not operate in anything like the same way. He is the most hands on coach. He pops in to Doodles in Blouberg when he is staying back in his Blouberg home and he chats with all and sundry over a beer, and he says he tells his coaches what he wants to achieve and his broad strategy then they come up with plans to implement it. He brought Brown in because he had devised a plan of how he wanted to expand the attacking game - he already had the use of hybrids in mind with the 7/1 split and Quagga. That was pure Rassie no one else, as was the mid field lineout. So Wayneo your five cents worth is not on the money.

Where does woke come into it?

Very cool use of the term ‘woke’ here….. makes heaps of sense, especially in this context! It is very woke to be stuck in the past and not realise this is a pretty normal coaching arrangement in high performance sport!

It’s not clear but my guess is Hansen as been in this role for the last 4 years (before ABs I mean).

Why? What’s your idea of what needs to be done by a head coach?

Lets think logically here (try to) for a second. Can we say the HC (Hansen) has a hands on role? If you have someone facing the team at training (and obviously Razor does this, weve seen videos of him and they need hands on deck most of the time) trying to get them doing the right thing, shouldn’t that be the guy that knows what he wants them to do?

High performances is about effeciency right, it’s always a race against time. There is always limited time. It seems ineffecient to me to have an intermediatory in the process. It creates errors, “why is the team doing this Hansen” “oh I thoughts that what you wanted”. I see no need for it. Big guy tells the mastermind what he wants outta the team, and mastermind goes away and brings it to life?

Agree, the issue seems to be that the people Robertson delegates to are not up to International level.

Either Robertson does not see this, or is hoping that they will ‘come right’; both are unacceptable at international level.

I think we’re trying to find out who should go.