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'We would prefer he's around but that's not the way it is'

By Online Editors
Carlos Spencer and Jason Holland. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

Hurricanes coach Jason Holland has revealed a rejig of roles within the team’s staff was in order following the departure of assistant coach Carlos Spencer.

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Spencer, who joined the Hurricanes staff at the start of 2019, revealed he was told he would be made redundant at the conclusion of the Super Rugby Aotearoa season “due to the financial uncertainty created by Covid-19” and decided to walk early.

“Rather than carry on and finish off the competition I saw this as an opportunity to spend some well needed time with the family and sort out what our next move is,” he told NZME.

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“[I’m] In no hurry to make any decisions, just want to enjoy time with the family and finally get to watch my kids play some sport.”

Holland admitted the situation was far from ideal and he would consequently be having to re-shuffle responsibilities within the team.

“We’ll re-jig a few things, I might get a bit more involved in the hands-on stuff with the rugby and some of the stuff above me gets taken care of so it’s going to take a little bit of working through,” Holland said.

“We’re gutted to see Carlos go, he was a top man and a top coach and it’s not the most ideal situation. But like a lot of places around New Zealand at the moment with Covid, it’s a necessity.

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“We would prefer he’s around but that’s not the way it is.”

The Hurricanes remain winless through the opening three weeks of Super Rugby Aotearoa after holding a 4-2 record in Super Rugby pre-lockdown.

They face the Chiefs this weekend following a bye after being defeated 39-25 by the Crusaders at home.

Holland said the extended break has given them plenty of opportunities to work on their game.

“When you lose a game that you felt you were average at, you don’t want a bye the next week, you want to get back into it and put it right,” Holland said. “But from another side, we had a couple of days off last week and then got some really good work done at the back end of last week around those things we thought we were average against the Crusaders so it’s been good for us, chomping at the bit now.

“We lost at little parts of our game that we’re not getting right which the Crusaders capitalised on so it’s all within our control, that’s the main thing, it’s all little things we know we can be better at. A lot of it’s around retention of the ball, getting rid of some of the errors, how we apply pressure and don’t put it on ourselves.”

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J
Jon 9 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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