Report: Crusaders coach in line to join All Blacks coaching group
Scott Robertson’s chief assistant at the Crusaders has reportedly been asked to join Ian Foster’s All Blacks coaching staff as part of a backroom overhaul in the wake of New Zealand’s series defeat to Ireland.
According to a report from the New Zealand Herald, highly-regarded Crusaders forwards coach Jason Ryan is tipped to join the All Blacks imminently as the Kiwis look to bounce back quickly after suffering a historic series loss at the hands of the Irish.
Falling to a 2-1 series defeat after losing their first matches to Ireland on home soil, the All Blacks are desperately searching for improvement ahead of their Rugby Championship campaign, which kicks-off in a fortnight when they face the Springboks across two tests in South Africa.
Fronting the media following a tumultuous week that ended with his retention as All Blacks head coach on Friday, Foster acknowledged that such improvement will only come with change.
After naming an almost-unchanged 36-man All Blacks squad for the Rugby Championship, headlined by the retention of under-pressure captain Sam Cane, Foster strongly hinted that those alterations will come within his coaching ranks imminently.
“I’ve also heard that there does need to be some change,” Foster said.
“Right now, I am working behind the scenes to achieve that. You can ask me a hundred times what that is and I won’t be able to give you that answer just yet.
“I’d like you to bear with me, but we’ve got things in place right now, and as soon as I can let you know a couple of changes, I will let you know as soon as possible.”
That seemingly leaves his assistant coaches – forwards coach and selector John Plumtree, attack coach Brad Mooar, defence coach Scott McLeod and scrum coach Greg Feek – in the firing line.
Speculation has swirled about the future of that quartet, with numerous reports outlining that Plumtree is one of those who are particularly vulnerable after reviewing poorly following last year’s tour of the northern hemisphere.
Despite that, Foster confirmed on Friday that Plumtree helped him and new All Blacks selector Joe Schmidt pick the Rugby Championship, which appeared to be an indication that his role within the national set-up remains secure.
However, the Herald reports that Ryan – the long-time assistant of Robertson, who missed out on the All Blacks head coach job to Foster after the 2019 World Cup – could join the New Zealand squad before their two-test tour of South Africa.
Given his pedigree as a standout forwards coach, having helped Robertson guide the Crusaders to six straight Super Rugby championships after previously working with him for five title-laden years at Canterbury, Ryan’s addition as an All Blacks assistant coach would likely come at Plumtree’s expense.
Any decision to remove Plumtree – or any of the other All Blacks assistant coaches – would require a major payout from New Zealand Rugby [NZR] after Foster and his colleagues all signed two-year contract extensions last year.
Likewise, any ploy to bring Ryan on board with the All Blacks would likely result in NZR buying the former Black Ferns and New Zealand U20 coach out of his current deal with the Fiji national side.
Working as a forwards coach under Vern Cotter, Ryan is contracted to the Flying Fijians through until next year’s World Cup.
While there remains no confirmation about what changes will be made to the national coaching set-up, Foster is hopeful that any alterations will be made swiftly.
“I’ll let you know really soon. Out of respect for a couple of processes, I need to not say any more than that,” he said on Friday.
The All Blacks will assemble in Wellington on Monday before they open the Rugby Championship against the Springboks at Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on August 6.
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