In its usual stoic, nothing to see here fashion, New Zealand Rugby announced the news of Clayton McMillan’s impending departure to Munster as a win-win. The current Chiefs head coach will be joining the Irish province at the end of Super Rugby in a move that New Zealand’s national body tried to spin as one that will enhance the coaching prowess of McMillan and open an opportunity for an emerging coach in New Zealand to take his place.
That’s a massively optimistic view of what is really happening, because there is a more powerful counter argument that says there is no win in this for New Zealand, and that in fact it is a lose-lose.
Rugby intelligence is not only pouring out to leave the Super Rugby coaching pool but it is also greatly enhancing the ability of rival nations.
On the former, the problem was mostly acutely felt in mid-2023 when the Blues, Hurricanes and Crusaders all had to recruit new head coaches at the same time following the respective promotions of Leon MacDonald, Jason Holland and Scott Robertson to the All Blacks.
None of the three clubs were able to promote from within because they didn’t have qualified candidates, and it highlighted the lack of depth and experience New Zealand has within its coaching ecosystem.
In the end, fate intervened as Vern Cotter’s tenure with Fiji came to an unexpected end which meant the Blues were able to snap him up, and the Hurricanes took what has turned out to be an inspired risk by hiring Clark Laidlaw from the New Zealand Sevens team.
The Crusaders brought in Rob Penney and while the Highlanders weren’t looking for a new coach, they did bring back Jamie Joseph from Japan as director of rugby and then install him as head coach this season.
And looking at the head coaching stocks of the five original Super Rugby teams, the line-up is impressive.
There is undeniable quality and experience as Cotter has had charge of Scotland and Fiji and enjoyed success with Clermont. He also won the title last year with the Blues.
Joseph took Japan to the 2019 World Cup quarterfinals and won Super Rugby with the Highlanders in 2015.
But that topline is perhaps misleading, as it potentially oversells the overall coaching capability within the system and now that McMillan has announced he’s leaving, it once again brings into question how much depth there is in New Zealand, because there is no obvious successor to replace him.
Assistant coach Ross Filippo has served a long apprenticeship and maybe he’s ready to step up, while former Ulster coach and Chiefs stalwart Jonno Gibbes is another possibility.
While doubts hang over Super Rugby and the domestic talent pool, the list of experienced Kiwi coaches working outside of New Zealand is extensive.
Neither, though, can really say they have the experience of track record to instil absolute confidence this is a job they are ready for.
And what if Laidlaw should suddenly be whisked back to his homeland (Scotland)? Do the Hurricanes have anyone ready to replace him as head coach?
As for the Crusaders, the speculation was that Penney, experienced and well-travelled, had been brought in to mentor former assistant Tamati Ellison for two years and then step aside.
But Ellison has taken a full-time post with the All Blacks and so questions remain about the Crusaders succession plan.
While these doubts hang over Super Rugby and the domestic talent pool, the list of experienced Kiwi coaches working outside of New Zealand is extensive.
In Japan, there are former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen and Ian Foster, as well as former Wallabies coaches Robbie Deans and Dave Rennie and the vastly under-rated Todd Blackadder.
Joe Schmidt is coaching the Wallabies, Pat Lam is with Bristol, Tony Brown is with South Africa and soon McMillan will be with Munster and there is a long and undeniable base of evidence to suggest the impact Kiwi coaches have had all over the world is significant.
Ireland became a genuine world force under Schmidt – while he’s also having significant impact now in Australia.
About 30 per cent of South Africa’s squad plays in Japan, many of whom are benefitting from exposure to New Zealand’s best coaching exports, while Brown’s influence on the Springboks backline last year was obvious.
It’s understandable why NZR is selling McMillan’s departure as a win for itself, because it has had no choice but to build a narrative that says time spent offshore is all part of its coaching development pathway.
And now Ireland are going to benefit again from McMillan’s arrival in Munster as the Chiefs coach has shown himself to be adept at rebuilding broken teams by focusing on their culture.
There’s a feeling Munster have been underperforming for a few years now and for Ireland to gain arguably New Zealand’s hottest domestic coaching property is a significant coup.
The Chiefs in 2025 are playing an incredible brand of rugby with a cohesion and determination that suggests they will be crowned champions at the end of the season and that it is not a win-win that McMillan is leaving New Zealand, but simply a win for Munster only.
But it’s understandable why NZR is selling McMillan’s departure as a win for itself, because it has had no choice but to build a narrative that says time spent offshore is all part of its coaching development pathway.
Head of professional rugby Chris Lendrum said last week: “We’re not overflowing with high-level opportunities for people to work in fulltime senior head coaching roles, that’s why Clayton’s looking offshore to gain some further experience and we’ll see how that plays out,”
“I think he’s going to go well but you can never predict anything with 100 per cent certainty.
“I’m sure that at some point he would like to be in the running for the All Blacks head coach role, but you never know when that might come up.
“This is an opportunity for him to improve further as a leader. He’s still young. We would love to get the benefit of what he’s about to learn at Munster and in Europe coming back to us at some point in the future.
“I think he’s got every intention of coaching in New Zealand again.
More recently, it appears that once ambitious coaches leave New Zealand they don’t come back. Rennie never returned after shipping off to Glasgow in 2017.
“He’s certainly not signalling with this departure today that he’s done here… we look forward to him coming back into our system when the time is right.”
New Zealand doesn’t have the financial resources or structure to keep a deep coaching base and so it has tried to sell departures like McMillan’s as a kind of finishing school for ambitious coaches.
The idea is that Super Rugby coaches who want the All Blacks job but can’t see it becoming available in a workable timeline, go to Europe or Japan to hone their skills.
It’s a good theory and there have been examples of this pathway working. Graham Henry missed out on the All Blacks job in 1998, so went to Wales, where his experience there was enough to see him appointed head coach of New Zealand in 2003.
Wayne Smith and Hansen also worked offshore before coming home to enjoy long stints with the All Blacks, as did John Mitchell.
But more recently, it appears that once ambitious coaches leave New Zealand they don’t come back. Rennie never returned after shipping off to Glasgow in 2017.
Blackadder left the Crusaders in 2016 and is still offshore, and while Schmidt, who left for Clermont in 2007, did come home to do a stint with the All Blacks in 2022-2023, he wasn’t persuaded to stay on longer.
As for Warren Gatland, he had a couple of attempts to work in New Zealand after first heading to Ireland in the late 1990s, but none of them lasted.
The net result is that New Zealand is losing more than it gains when coaches like McMillan leave and that its combined coaching ability domestically, has for the last few years, been less than the coaching ability of its diaspora.
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Don’t think Gregor Paul is right. McMillan is an excellent coach and would have got a gig in Europe or Japan at some stage, regardless of where he’s from. As to other coaches, I think you’ll find we’re not in as high a demand as we think we are in NZ. There’s no Kiwi head coach in the 6N anymore. None in the URC, none in the Top 14 and ProD2 and one (Pat Lam) in the Premiership.
Of the 24 top nations in the world ranking, only four have Kiwi head coaches (NZ, Australia, Portugal (Mannix) and Hong Kong). On par with Argentina. Next season we’ll have 2 Kiwi head coaches in Europe’s top three leagues. Like first fives, it used to be a lot different. We used to have many in Europe but they too are now few and far between.
Most other Kiwi head coaches are in Japan. I think there’s plenty of Kiwi talent left for SR teams. They deserve a chance.
Done to advantage the All Blacks, Paul.
I dont know that this argument stacks up - more coaches have returned to NZ than have left
Facts are that we have more top quality coaches than top positions, and coaches benefit from working in the other hemisphere. Look at the IP Cotter and Rassie brought back.
Laidlaw wasn't exactly a sure thing and he's improved his team almost as much as Cotter.
Schmidt is another coach about to come home, he'd be yet another upgrade.
1. Financial reality, NZR can't compete.
2. ABs can't be perceived as a closed shop.
3. Institutional arrogance tends to belittle offshore success as less somehow as clearly they don't play rugby as well. Were Pat Lam or Todd Blackadder ever seriously looked at or approached by NZR? I would be surprised.
Were Pat Lam or Todd Blackadder ever seriously looked at or approached by NZR? I would be surprised.
For what positions? They both coached in NZ and NZR has a great say in appointing SR coaches, but neither Blackadder or Lam had enough success to ever be considered for the ABs role. In fact Id really consider both as failures in the NZ system.
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ANOTHER DAY & ANOTHER KIWI WRITER MOANING ABOUT THE STATE OF THE GAME IN NZ.
Sheer clickbait journalism isn't it? So many of them.
Sign of the times. Henry and Gatland were both coaching national teams in the first 6 Nations. It wasn't unheard of for kiwis to coach traditionally weaker NH national teams.
Now McMillian is choosing to leave a successful SR team for an Irish province who are in a development phase. It's a huge reflection on where the game is shifting too.
Huh? The first 6N? When was that? And are you saying they only coached the 6th best team or something, rather than when the 4/5N were strong?
It’s no different that what you outlined, what, you think those coaches walked into 6N teams? Well, after professionalism I suppose I have to qualify.