Scott Robertson’s All Blacks assistants may be unveiled in ‘a matter of weeks’

There’s been a fair amount of discussion surrounding the future of the All Blacks’ coaching setup, with Scott Robertson’s assistants yet to be confirmed.

But after weeks of rumours, New Zealand Rugby’s Chris Lendrum has revealed that Robertson’s assistants may be unveiled in “a matter of weeks.”

NZR announced in March that Robertson would replace Ian Foster as the All Blacks’ head coach on a four-year deal after this year’s World Cup, although the rest of his coaching setup remained a mystery.

While Super Rugby Pacific coaches Leon MacDonald and Jason Holland have been linked with positions, nothing has been set in stone.

Hurricanes coach Holland added fuel to the fire earlier this month though, as he confirmed that he’d “had a chat” with the incoming All Blacks coach.

But days have since come and gone, and the future of the national teams’ coaching group remains uncertain – but All Blacks fans may not have to wait too much longer.

Speaking on this week’s episode of The Breakdown, NZR’s GM of Professional Rugby and Performance, Chris Lendrum, revealed an intriguing update.

“Not too far away,” Lendrum said.

“It’s probably a matter of weeks, certainly not months. We’ve moving as fast as we can.

“I know there’s a lot of talk about it, obviously publicly in the media and around the watercooler and so forth.

“These are people, these are their careers. Whether they’re in the existing management group or keen to join the new one, that means we’ve got employment processes and also just a desire to act in accordance with our values as an organisation which is people first.

“All of these conversations take a bit of time. We know that our clubs will be in a hurry because if they are impacted, they want to get out on to the market and pick up a new coach or promote from within.

“We’re working as hard as we can and you should see some news reasonably soon I’d say.”

As Lendrum mentioned, New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises will be eager to find out whether or not they need to hit the open market for a new coach.

Earlier this month, Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee said it would’ve been beneficial for all the New Zealand clubs to find out “in the next week or two.”

“We’re happy for it to play out for a certain amount of time but we need to move on and find out what’s happening and start our plans as well,” Lee said, as reported by Stuff.

“I think in the next week or two it would be good to get clarity, for us, the All Blacks and the other clubs as well.

“Certainly, in the next week would be good.”