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NZR's unicorn blood solution to the Chiefs coaching conundrum
It was widely considered an excellent signing when the Chiefs announced that Warren Gatland would be returning home in 2020 to coach the Waikato-based side.
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Gatland, with two successful Lions series, four Six Nations Championships, and three Grand Slams to his name, is rightfully one of the most respected coaches on the international circuit.
Couple his obvious strengths as a coach with his strong ties to the region – he won the NPC with Waikato back in 2006 – and he’s a perfect fit for the Chiefs.
Gatland’s four-year appointment came with a few stipulations, however.
Having taken the Lions to Australia in 2013 and New Zealand in 2017, Gatland will again take control of the composite side for their tour to South Africa in 2021.
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That role will directly take him away from the Chiefs for a whole season, but Gatland will also be spending plenty of time in 2020 watching, analysis and assessing the talent he’ll have at his disposal in Europe.
Gatland, the consummate professional that he is, won’t be doing a half-arsed job for the Chiefs by any means, but he’ll be effectively working one-and-a-half roles throughout the year.
It’s a situation that outgoing All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has raised his eyebrows at.
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“Having him back in New Zealand for a year, not sure how that’s going to work, because he’s going to do the (British and Irish) Lions after that,” said Hansen after New Zealand’s bronze medal victory over Wales.
“So not a lot of continuity for him or the Chiefs, but I’m sure he’ll work his way through that.”
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It will make for a difficult time for the Chiefs, with the impact being further amplified by Gatland’s late entrance to the role.
The Super Rugby season will kick off on the 31st of January with the Blues hosting the Chiefs.
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Naturally, Gatland’s entire focus this year will have been on Wales and their World Cup campaign. It’s expected that Gatland will take at least some time off before jumping straight back into the coach’s seat – but that will prove somewhat problematic for the Chiefs.
On November 30, Gatland will take charge of the Barbarians in a match against Wales, who will be operating under new coach Wayne Pivac for the first time.
Despite the carnival nature of the match, Gatland will still need to spend some time strategising and coaching with his Barbarians squad before game day.
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Super Rugby pre-season will then be well underway in December – which won’t leave one of world rugby’s busiest coaches with much downtime.
Furthermore, the New Zealand Super sides will confirm their squads for 2020 on November 12th and you have to question how prominent a role Gatland had in the recruitment and signing process.
At best, Gatland’s assistants for 2020 will have been doing the rounds, compiling information to send over to Gatland so that he can have the final say.
Of course, we still don’t have much transparency over who Gatland’s assistants actually are, with Tabai Matson the only coach from 2019 who is ‘confirmed’ to still be a part of the set-up.
The Chiefs’ 2019 campaign was hindered by injuries but questions were also raised over Colin Cooper’s player recruitment strategies.
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In the Chiefs’ glory years of 2012 and 2013 under Dave Rennie, on-the-nose recruitment played a big part in the team’s success. It’s hard to imagine that a similarly robust recruitment process will play a role in the Chiefs’ 2020 campaign.
2021 will then see the reins handed elsewhere – again, it’s unknown who Gatland has in his coaching team just yet – with Gatland taking his leave for the Lions tour.
That really leaves the Waikato man with just two years of fulltime preparation and coaching. It’s not an ideal set-up by any means, but it sounds like Gatland didn’t have a huge amount of say in the matter.
Gatland originally hoped to take some time off between Wales’ World Cup campaign and the Lions tour, but it wasn’t to be.
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“I got an approach from the Chiefs and felt if I didn’t take that role, then it wouldn’t be there after the Lions,” Gatland said.
“Thankfully the NZ rugby union allowed me to take a year’s sabbatical, so it will be a real challenge.”
It leaves the Chiefs faced with an incredibly disrupted couple of years ahead of them.
As if Gatland has been dining on unicorn blood straight from the wound of New Zealand Rugby, he will be living a half-life with the Chiefs, with one eye on what’s going on in Super Rugby and the other focussed intently on the Northern Hemisphere.
It’s a problem that will affect both the New Zealand franchise and the British and Irish Lions.
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Throughout history, the Lions have always employed a coach who has been based in the Northern Hemisphere.
For Gatland’s previous two tours, he was firmly entrenched in the rugby up north thanks to his role with Wales.
In 2009, Ian McGeechan, who was head coach at the London Wasps, took charge of the Lions.
Clive Woodward, who took the Lions to New Zealand in 2005, had been head coach of England until 2004.
One way or another, it’s hard not to see the Lions’ preparation suffering under the current arrangement. If it doesn’t, then you’d have to think that the Chiefs will be left to deal with the consequences.
WATCH: Despite a horrid start to last year’s campaign, the Chiefs somehow still managed to make the play-offs for the seventh year in a row.
Comments on RugbyPass
Its a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend om the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside od World Cup years.
5 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
5 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
5 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
1 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
3 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to comments