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Why the All Blacks job is 'not in Warren Gatland's intermediate future'

By Online Editors
Warren Gatland. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

By Christopher Reive, NZ Herald

Chiefs’ chief executive Michael Collins believes Warren Gatland has no interest in becoming the new All Blacks coach in his short-term future.

Gatland will take the reins as the Chiefs head coach next season in the first year of a contract that will see him with the club until the end of 2023.

However, he will take time away from the team in 2021 to coach the British and Irish Lions, before returning to the helm.

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Speaking to the Radio Sport Breakfast, Collins said Gatland was committed to coaching the Lions which in turn would make him unavailable for the All Blacks, at least until 2022.

When asked if Collins believed Gatland would have mentioned his interest in applying for the All Blacks job, Collins said: “I’m pretty sure he would have.”

“The dealings I’ve had with him, he’s pretty straight up and down and comes across that way. Our vision is that we want all our coaches to aspire to be the All Blacks coach at some stage.

“I just think with what Warren’s got ahead of him, I just don’t think that’s on his radar in the intermediate future, but I haven’t had those conversations with him so I’m speculating.”

https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1192849553348866048

The Chiefs announced the rest of their coaching staff on Friday morning, with familiar faces returning to the coaching ranks, albeit with some in different roles.

Tabai Matson (defence), Neil Barnes (forwards), Nick White (scrum), Roger Randle (attack) and Andrew Strawbridge (resource) will all return to the coaching ranks, with one-time All Blacks No10 David Hill joining the fray as an assistant coach.

“Warren had a certain vision of the way he wanted to play when he had a look at the players assembled and said this is what I’m looking for.

“He was highly involved in putting that team together and watching them work the other day they seem to be a cohesive unit already.”

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Collins remained coy on the team’s plans around who would step into Gatland’s role when he was away on Lions duty, and whether that would be one of the current team or an outside hire. He said they were allowing their new coaching staff to settle in before moving on to such decisions.

“We go through that appointment process in conjunction with New Zealand Rugby so we know what the process looks like and roughly when it’s going to happen. So we’ll be going through that in the early stages of 2020.”

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

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Bull Shark 3 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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