New Zealand Rugby to 'cast the net wide' in search of new All Blacks coach

You can cast your net as wide as you like - but if there aren’t any big fish available you’re still just fishing in a bucket.

It's Jaimee, Tony, Wayne. Schmidt to join once he's finished in Aussie.

You heard it here first

Vern Cotter as head coach and Joe Schmidt as attack coach.

Both coached together in France at Montpellier and won the Champions Cup together before becoming head coaches of Scotland and Ireland. They remain good friends.

Both are available.

Not sure who the best available defence coach is but bring in someone who is an expert at blitz defence and finally get rid of NZ’s obsession with the outdated drift defence. Warren Gatland?

I’m not sure how things will play out, but one thing is for sure, I think it unlikely NZR will find the silver bullet coaching ticket that will lift the ABs back to glories past.

The landscape has changed, other team have caught up with the margins between the big nations (largely) wafer thin. Maybe the first thing that needs to happen is expectations need to be reset and dialed back a touch.

Robertson’ win ratio of 74% over his first 2-years wasn’t that bad, especially when factoring in how dominant the Boks have been this decade.

Well they gave the greatest most lauded coaching job in the world to a completely inexperienced international coach before.

I’d say it’s the hardest, most thankless job where coaching careers go to die.

Tread carefully all comers. Maybe wait for NZRU to sort itself out a bit and show real leadership. Especially if your name is Tony Brown. Maybe get a gold medal for your sterling efforts first - with a team and for a public who love your contributions. Over public who have unreasonable expectations and who have a history of turning on you very quickly.

Let’s unpack a couple of statements here. I was about to congratulate NZR on its new found decisiveness and ruthlessness, but there were two sentences in particular that tell me delusion is still an issue at HQ:

We think coaching the All Blacks is the greatest rugby coaching role in the world.

Debatable.

The highest profile job, yes; but there are a few issues that might make aspiring coaches think twice about whether it’s their dream job.

- NZR just fired a guy halfway through his contract, with a 74% winning record. The bloke before him didn’t fair much better, firing two of his assistants mid tenure and getting publicly chastised by fans and media alike. Foster left a bitter man and seems unlikely to recover. John Hart was famously spat on in public. There are plenty more examples.

NZ fans and media are highly critical and analytical, often turning on coaches relatively easily. Add to that, the constant demand to win from the commercial branch of NZRHQ make experimenting and long-term planning difficult if not imposible.

Other than that, it’s probably the best job in the World.

“We’re completely open,” Kirk said, after noting there was no initial frontrunner . “We’re going to cast the net wide. We’re going to get as many people as we can.

This is NZR old fashioned beliefs coming to the fore. No, you won’t get a lot of candidates. See the previous point for a start. NZR needs to realise that the best candidates are already in jobs and have no interest in sending in a CV for a competitive application. It won’t look great for their current employer in any case. These guys need concrete oportunities to make moves.

The top coaches’ CVs are publicly available for all to analyse, in replays, stats, interviews and more. There’s no need for fluffing around with applications.

Acquiring the best international coaching talent is competitive. And no, everyone is not lining up for the ABs top job.

Many of the best are already being actively pursued by other unions or clubs. NZR need to wake up and be as decisive in hiring, as they were in firing. Choose your man and go after him. Get him in an make an offer.

Waiting around for the flood of candidates, or worse, making them compete against each other, instead of working together; will leave us in the same mess we’ve just got out of.

Yep, net cast all the way down to Dunner's. Qualifications are...

1. Has international head coaching experience.

2. Is a NZer.

3. Wants the job.

4. Isn't in any way connected to Canterbury rugby.

In NZ? Not Penney, not Laidlaw, not Gibbes, and sorry Cotter, even though you are demonstrably the best coach in NZ with the most success as a test coach and huge experience and success in French club rugby and in Super Rugby, you are tainted Red & Black from your time there 20 years ago. Sorry about that.

Overseas? No one overseas eligible/want the job. Other than Fozzie. Which would be divisive. Maybe Rennie, though he failed catastrophically as Wallabies coach, couldn't win Super Rugby with the Chiefs as soon as Wayne Smith left the building, left them under a cloud, and has been astoundingly mediocre in Japan's league. Two magnificent 5th place finishes. And at 62 is a little old.

So Jamie Joseph, it’s your job for the losing. I wish you well. You won't have Tony Brown of course, who has been part of all the success you've ever had. He's locked up by Rassie until 2027, no chance of getting a release. The idea of them allowing him to become an AB's coach him with all his understanding of the SA setup just before the greatest rivalry tour is kinda silly. And your first mistake will be to make Savea captain, and therefore undroppable, even though he unbalances the loose forwards, is aging and now better suited to the bench...

And by the way, don't believe the drivel about it all being about the "trajectory" and not about the results. Start losing, and you will, it'll be ALL about the results. Given next years schedule, I'm picking four AB losses, maybe five. Defeat in greatest rivalry series. Another defeat at Twickers. At best playoff for third and fourth in Nations Cup.

I can see the headlines now. "All Blacks Trajectory Is Now Going Down In Flames!!!"

Or something like that.