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Who is primed to take over from Steve Hansen as All Blacks coach?

By Online Editors
Gilbert Enoka, Steve Hansen, Scott McLeod and Ian Foster - the current All Blacks coaches. (Photo by Hannah Peters / Getty Images)

NZ Herald

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Once the dust settles from the All Blacks‘ 19-7 loss to England, attention will turn to finding a successor to the departing Steve Hansen – who despite failing to claim a third-straight World Cup triumph for the All Blacks, will go down as one of the best coaches in NZ sporting history.

The favourite to take over has been believed to be Hansen’s right hand man Ian Foster, but last night’s result may have put a dent in the All Blacks assistant coach’s hopes.

Here are the likely candidates to lead the All Blacks’ new era:

The top contenders

Ian Foster

The hopes of the All Blacks’ attacking mastermind, who was praised by Hansen after their impressive victory over Ireland, probably took a hit after seeing his attack outwitted and outplayed by England’s suffocating defence.

Ian Foster talks with former All Black Malakai Fekitoa in the dressing room. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

Foster will still be considered one of the leading candidates to take over from Hansen after the tournament thanks to his deep ties to the team, its culture and his immense role in the All Blacks’ period of world dominance.

But the way the All Blacks’ attack was completely shut down by England’s defence, orchestrated by Foster’s old Waikato teammate and former All Blacks coach John Mitchell, may cause NZ Rugby to reassess their options.

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Scott Robertson

With three Super Rugby titles in the past three years to his name and a bumbling break dancing career, he seems a perfect fit to step up to the head job in New Zealand.

After a successful career with the Crusaders as well as 20 appearances as a player for the men in back, Robertson took Canterbury to three titles in four years before moving onto the Crusaders.

He is not your usual rugby coach, with out-of-the-box thinking and unconventional methods that clearly work after building the red and black dynasty once again. In that time the Crusaders have lost just five out of 56 matches.

Scott Robertson celebrates after the Crusaders success in the Super Rugby final. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer / Getty Images)
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His success with players has been translated to the All Blacks with nine out of the 15 players in the starting side against England were all Crusaders – including skipper Kieran Read and vice-captain Sam Whitelock.

Jamie Joseph

The former All Blacks number eight would be a solid candidate after Japan’s great run at the World Cup. Under his helm, the hosts reached the quarter-finals for the first time with impressive pool play wins over Ireland, Scotland and Samoa.

Like Robertson, he also has success at Super Rugby level after coaching the Highlanders to the title in 2015.

His status with Japan remains unclear post-World Cup and probably will remain so with the result last night as he may have seen another door open. His assistant coach Tony Brown could also be a contender for an assistant role with the All Blacks or remain in Japan to take up the head coaching job if Joseph leaves.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B4E0moXgVex/

Dave Rennie

The former Chiefs coach has been tipped as the replacement for Michael Chieka at the Wallabies but he might be holding all meetings with Raelene Castle after the All Blacks’ semifinal defeat.

He has the credentials having coached the Chiefs to back-to-back Super Rugby titles in 2012 and 2013 before taking over at the Glasgow Warriors in 2017.

He also coached a New Zealand under-20s side in 2011 which included current All Blacks Sam Cane, Beauden Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Codie Taylor and TJ Perenara.

The wild cards

Joe Schmidt

Schmidt has strongly suggested that he is done with coaching after the World Cup, but if the top job in New Zealand comes calling, it would be very hard to say no.

Joe Schmidt greets Hansen
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt chats with and All Black coach Steve Hansen in Dublin in 2016 (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

In terms of his credentials, his CV likely took a hit – similarly to Foster – after the events of the World Cup after seeing his Ireland side fall so convincingly to the All Blacks in one of the most dominant quarter-final performances in history.

Despite failing to lead Ireland to their first ever quarter-final win at a World Cup, he was still responsible for creating probably the greatest Irish team in its history.

Scott McLeod

All the talk has been about Ian Foster replacing Hansen but what about the other assistant coach McLeod?

The defensive specialist was getting plenty of praise ahead of last night’s semifinal after the All Blacks held Ireland to 14 points in the quarters and South Africa to 13 in the opening game. As they say, ‘defense wins championships’.

John Mitchell

Yes, we’ve been down this road and journey before with Mitchell coaching the All Blacks in 2002 and 2003 including a World Cup failure – bronze at the 2003 tournament.

But he’s one win away from claiming a Rugby World Cup title as assistant with England under Eddie Jones.

Plus he went to Francis Douglas Memorial College – the New Plymouth high school that produced the Barrett brothers.

This article first appeared on nzherald.co.nz and is republished with permission.

Steve Hansen was gracious in defeat after New Zealand were comfortably bested by England:

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Jon 4 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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j
john 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 8 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

30 Go to comments
T
Trevor 11 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

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