New Zealand's greatest coaches to never coach the All Blacks
It would be extraordinary if Scott Robertson were to miss out on the All Blacks head coaching role again. Everything Razor has touched has turned to gold. Three NPC championships and a 38-9 record with Canterbury was followed by a World Under 20 championship with New Zealand in 2015. Since 2017 he’s turned the Crusaders into an even bigger juggernaut than they were previously. A record six titles in a row are accompanied by a peerless 86 wins in 101 games.
However, doubt remains on who will be Ian Foster’s successor. There are plenty of heavyweights that have missed out in the past. Some for political reasons, some in the wrong place at the wrong time. Here are five of the best New Zealand coaches to have never coached the All Blacks.
Charlie Saxton – The best of his playing years were interrupted by World War II. An All Black halfback in the 3-0 sweep of Australia in 1938 he would almost have certainly toured South Africa in 1939.
Saxton rose to the rank of major in the 19th Armoured Regiment during the War and then captained and coached the famous 2nd NZEF “Kiwis” on their wonderfully successful 1945-46 tour of Britain and Europe.
On that tour the “Kiwis won 29 out of 33 games outsourcing opponents 605-185 and beating the full international sides of England, Wales, and France.
Returning to Dunedin, Saxton coached the Pirates club to three banners – in 1948, 1950 and 1952 and was an Otago selector and assistant coach with Vic Cavanagh during the great Otago Ranfurly Shield era which latest 18 defences from 1947 to 1950. He took on head coaching duties in 1950 and helped Otago beat the British and Irish Lions that year. In 1957 Otago won the Ranfurly Shield again.
In 1967 Saxton wrote the coaching booklet The ABC of Rugby, which had a print run of 70,000 copies. It introduced key coaching terms like the “Staircase backline” and the “Position, Possession, Pace” theory, a long-time trademark of the New Zealand game which encouraged attacking play.
Saxton was manager of the 1967 All Blacks who were unbeaten in 17 games in the UK and France. Colin Meads remarked after Saxton passed in 2001. “When you got a barrage from Charlie, you knew you’d had one. It only happened once or twice on the whole tour, and that was because the guys held him in such respect. Whenever he spoke the guys listened.”
Bill Freeman – When Bill Freeman coached Wellington from 1964 to 1970 the Lions scaled lofty heights, so it was a surprise in 1970 when he missed out on the All Blacks coaching job to his understudy and assistant Ivan Vodanovich. It was alleged Vodanovich was preferred on religious grounds.
In 1965 Freeman led Wellington to a 23-6 triumph over the Springboks, arguably their greatest-ever result. A year later Wellington punished the British and Irish Lions 20-6 and won 19 out of 22 games in a euphoric season, including winning all four matches on a southern tour for the first time since 1930 and beating powerhouses Auckland and Taranaki twice each. Mick Williment, Graham Williams and Tom Lister were All Blacks and household names.
Telling from 1976 to 1988 he was appointed by New Zealand Rugby as national coaching director, a professional role to coach largely amateur coaches at the time.
Ian Upston – A glorious reign with Petone in Wellington yielded 172 wins in 192 matches and eight Jubilee Cup successes in ten years. Inevitably Upston took on the Wellington role and guided the Lions to 1978 and 1981 NPC titles as well as winning the Ranfurly Shield in 1981. All Blacks like Stu Wilson, Bernie Fraser, Alan Hewson, and Murray Mexted always ensured the Lions were competitive and entertaining.
With 102 wins in 146 games, Upston has won more matches than any Wellington coach for at least the last five decades. Curiously he’d often leave Athletic Park during home games and pace up and down nearby Rintoul Street claiming the reaction of the crowd would provide clues as to the fortunes of his team.
Maurice Trapp – When Trapp coached Auckland (with assistance from Sir Bryan Williams) from 1987 to 1991, Auckland was untouchable winning 86 out of 90 games – two of the losses when Auckland’s large All Black contingent was not available.
In those five years, Trapp’s side won all their 38 Ranfurly Shield defences, as part of Auckland’s record 61 successful defences between 1985 and 1993. Additionally, they extended their unbeaten run at Eden Park to 51 games and enjoyed an unbeaten streak of 46 games in a row between 1987 and 1989.
A lock he played 38 games for Auckland and had a long and successful career in financial services. Trapp was on the Board of the NZ Rugby Foundation and President of New Zealand Rugby from 2017 to 2019.
Robbie Deans – When Robbie Deans retired after playing 146 games and scoring 1641 points for Canterbury, the All Black fullback was already a legend in Christchurch. That reputation would be further enhanced when he coached Canterbury to the 1997 NPC title with Sir Steven Hansen, Canterbury’s first success since 1983.
From 2000 to 2008 Deans coach the Crusaders winning five Super Rugby titles and making another two finals. In 2002 the Crusaders went through the entire season unbeaten (13-0) and beat the Waratahs by a record score of 96-19. Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw were both rookies under Deans.
After 89 wins in 120 games as Crusaders coach, Deans was a contender to replace Sir Graham Henry after the All Blacks exit in the World Cup quarter-finals in 2007. Henry was retained so Deans headed to Australia. His tenure with the Wallabies wasn’t entirely successful with just 43 wins in 74 tests but he’s proven in Japan he hasn’t forgotten how to win leading the Wild Knights to five Japanese titles.
Comments on RugbyPass
The Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver 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
3 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments