Steve Lancaster: 'I think the role and the opportunity speaks for itself'

After today’s announcement by New Zealand Rugby that the process has begun to appoint the new All Blacks head coach, interim CEO Steve Lancaster has discussed the timeline of when a decision may be made.

The end-of-year review findings by New Zealand Rugby’s Chair David Kirk, Don Tricker, and Keven Mealamu saw Scott Robertson depart his role as head coach just two years into his tenure.

This came to a surprise to many, with the All Blacks winning 20 out of the 27 Test matches in the two years, posting a 74 percent win percentage while sitting second on the World rankings.

In search of the new head coach, Kirk told media on January 15 that they would “cast the net wide”, and would discuss with the board whether a foreign coach could be the next All Blacks coach.

Lancaster, a former play himself, spoke to media in Auckland on Monday afternoon, explaining that the main reason why New Zealand Rugby have decided for only candidates with international experience, is a representation of the situation they are in.

“All it is really is an acknowledgement that we’re halfway through a World Cup cycle, two years out from the next World Cup, and we simply don’t have time for someone to find their feet in international rugby,” the interim NZR CEO said.

“We need someone that can hit the ground running. I think the role and the opportunity speaks for itself. We’re confident we’re not gonna have to go out and sell this role and that there will be people that will see the opportunity for what it is, and will be a good group of candidates.”

“Firstly, this is the All Blacks and so as a matter of principle, ideally, we wanted New Zealand to coach in that team.

“But we’re also really fortunate in New Zealand. We have an incredible amount of amazing coaches, both Coaching here in New Zealand and around the world.

“So we don’t believe this point in time that we need to go outside of New Zealand candidates.”

When Robertson departed his role as head coach of the All Blacks, many believed that would mean his assistants, Jason Ryan, Tamati Ellison, and Scott Hansen could also leave, but Kirk explained they were all still under contract.

Lancaster remains confident that it’s “business as usual” for the current assistants, who still could have a role to play in 2026.

“It’s absolutely business as usual for the rest of the management staff that goes beyond the assistant coaches to the whole management team.

“At this point in time, we’ve got to wait and see for a head coach, and that’s what we’re looking into.

“So we’re looking to appoint a head coach, and once we’ve appointed the head coach, then we’ll start discussions with them, and we’ll make decisions with them about the makeup of their coaching and management.”

In previous appointment processes, All Blacks head coaches have applied with their whole group of assistants, which was part of the selection process.

But Lancaster explains that for this specific process, the organisation is only interested in the position for the head coaching role.

“We’re simply asking for candidates to apply for the head coach role.

“We’ve got a really capable, experienced group [of assistants] that are in place, so we’ll sit down once we point the head coach, and we’ll have conversation with them about the finalising the makeup of that group.”