Prospective All Blacks coaches aren't shunning New Zealand - they're just taking safer options
Warren Gatland, Dave Rennie, Jamie Joseph and, by extension, Tony Brown, have all ruled themselves out of becoming the next All Blacks coach.
All four men were genuine world-class options to take over from Steve Hansen after New Zealand’s unsuccessful World Cup campaign and headed up a who’s who of Kiwi coaches that have been approached by the New Zealand union.
Although the vast majority of the men reached out to by NZR won’t be serious contenders for the head coach role, the four that have pledged their loyalties elsewhere added some genuine competition to a race that is seemingly now being run between Ian Foster, Scott Robertson and maybe Joe Schmidt.
There’s been talk that these coaches have snubbed New Zealand and suggestions that it shows the world’s most historically successful international side doesn’t have the same pull that it once did.
Others have inferred that these exceptional coaches consider themselves rank outsiders for a role that many expect will go to one of Foster or Robertson.
Continue reading below…
The reality is likely somewhere in the middle.
Tony Brown and Dave Rennie have both spoken about why they turned down a run at the All Blacks job.
“It just didn’t feel right to be the guy who’s floating around between three different coaches to potentially get the job,” said Brown. “It felt right to stick with Jamie and what we’ve been doing for the last eight years.
“I made a decision I’m going to stay with Jamie. If he applies for the All Blacks, I’m in. If he stays with Japan, I’m in.”
With Joseph now re-signing with the Japanese national side until the next World Cup, Brown’s international future also lies in the Land of the Rising Sun.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5EaeE_ALwD/
Brown effectively said he wasn’t splitting his loyalties; he’d stick with Jamie Joseph no matter what.
Loyalty played a similar role in Rennie’s decision to take up the head coaching role with Australia.
“I’m a proud Kiwi but the big thing is I’ve been talking to Australia for a lot of months and the All Blacks interest came in late in the piece,” said Rennie. “By that stage… we were really excited about the opportunity to go to Australia.”
Make no mistakes, if Rennie had been offered up both the Wallabies and the All Blacks coaching roles on a platter, at the same time, then he would have picked black.
The issue was that Rennie was courted for some time by Rugby Australia before New Zealand even sounded him out – and Rennie isn’t one to go deep into negotiations with one side then leave them in the lurch when a better opportunity comes calling.
While contenders for the All Blacks job keep falling by the wayside, Rugby Australia got their recruitment done quickly with Dave Rennie https://t.co/vvfj0pTLc1
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 20, 2019
For both Brown and Rennie, loyalty played a major part in their decisions to turn down a shot at taking over the All Blacks.
Last time an intensive procedure was undertaken to decide the next coach for New Zealand, Robbie Deans lost out to Graham Henry. Deans then took up the job with the Wallabies but coaching the All Blacks was always his first choice.
It’s one of the reasons why Deans was met with a fair amount of resistance when he took over – the Wallabies job was always his second choice.
Rennie will instead take over with no question marks over his appointment (except for the fact that he’s not Australian, but that’s no fault of his own). Had Rennie gone through the rigmarole of a coaching tryout in New Zealand then he may well have missed out on working with the Wallabies – and likely on an international appointment altogether.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5EYNIygmpp/
It’s a similar story for Brown, Gatland and even John Mitchell – who has tied himself to England for the near future.
Why risk applying for the All Blacks role if it would taint other potential appointments?
The sheer number of high-quality coaches available post-World Cup has meant that even the best applicants have just a slim chance of taking over the All Blacks.
Tony Brown and Dave Rennie may not think that Ian Foster or Scott Robertson have the coaching role locked up without question, but even if they had an equal chance of becoming head honcho of the All Blacks then the smarter move is to continue to earn their stripes elsewhere.
In other news, Warren Gatland has made a startling revelation now that his time with Wales has come to an end:
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe 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?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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
4 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 comments