Former RA chair McLennan goes into bat for NZR over All Blacks coach criteria

Former Rugby Australia chair Hamish McLennan has weighed in on New Zealand Rugby’s (NZR) decision to part ways with All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson, offering a very complimentary take on the union’s actions.

Robertson had led the All Blacks to a respectable 74 per cent win rate over his two years in the role, but struggled to unlock the team’s potential in the eyes of NZR.

The union has now confirmed that they will be seeking a Kiwi with international coaching experience to replace Robertson, ruling out any foreign candidates.

McLennan said the call to stick with a local coach was a logical one.

“No World Cup has ever been won by a coach from another nation; they’ve always been coaches of their country of origin. So I think it’s critically important that you get a New Zealander,” he told Newstalk ZB‘s D’Arcy Waldegrave.

“You’ve got a bit of talent, but it’s hard picking up head coaches and assistant coaches mid-cycle; that’s what we found… I think it’s very difficult to bring an outsider in.”

McLennan, who was ousted as chair by the Rugby Australia board in late 2023 after initially resisting a call to resign from the country’s six state unions, famously dropped Dave Rennie as Wallabies coach in favour of Eddie Jones prior to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Even with the Wallabies’ historically poor showing at the World Cup under Jones, which ultimately cost him his job, McLennan expressed no regrets about the decision to dramatically drop Rennie for an Australian coach.

“All the guys, Dave Rennie and all of them, they’re all great people, great rugby people, but at the end of the day, when it comes down to the last 10 or 15 minutes of any game, I think if you’re a player, it’s just that extra commitment that you have to want to win, and that goes right back to the coaching staff.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

4

Draws

0

Wins

1

Average Points scored

24

17

First try wins

40%

Home team wins

60%

McLennan was of the opinion that no matter how great a coach is, both as a tactician and as a person, if they are not serving their nation of birth, they will always have one eye on their next step rather than being entirely focused on their current team.

But there were plenty more reasons a local coach can outperform a foreigner that McLennan put forward.

“I think a coach from New Zealand will know the player group and the pathways and what’s good and, dare I say, in equal measures, what’s wrong with it.

“So how do you navigate around it? I think you need somebody who knows the system, who can work the system.

“And I think you’re in a really compressed timeframe now, with the World Cup, as Australian Rugby is. But I think a national coach from New Zealand will instantaneously get all of that, the good and the bad. I think that’s critical for you guys.”

There are reasons to be found in relation to the team’s “psyche” as well.

“I would also say, and it’s not a derogatory comment at all, but I think, for instance, Australia and New Zealand, the psyche is completely different. I’m not saying Australia is better or New Zealand’s better, but I think the way you coach and talk to the players is very different.

“If you went for an Irish coach, I think the way you talk to an All Black player or a player group like that is different. So if you can go straight for a New Zealand coach, they understand how to talk to the player group.”

All things considered, McLennan says a Kiwi coach would “bring a different edge” to the role, and extended that sentiment to the assistant coaching group, too, highlighting the benefit of complete familiarity with the country’s talent stock.

Another criterion NZR announced on Monday was the need for international coaching experience. McLennan pointed to Scott Robertson’s reported strategy of fulfilling a “culture coach” role in the team as an example of a misunderstanding of what succeeding as an international head coach requires, labelling the Test arena “a different kettle of fish.”

With less than 20 Tests standing between the All Blacks and the 2027 Rugby World Cup, McLennan says tough decisions have to be made.

“South Africa and New Zealand are the best in the world. The interesting thing now, and a lot of my rugby friends who I still talk to in very, very senior rugby capacity, say that South Africa could field two teams that can win the World Cup, and I don’t think they’re far off.

“So I probably would have made the same call if I were in David Kirk’s position. But it’s hard. Nothing’s perfect. You’re making 50-50calls every step of the way.”