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'We'll all be in for a helluva journey': Ex-All Blacks legend weighs in on coaching debate
By Campbell Burnes
May the best man win.
That is the view of former All Blacks lock and SKY TV rugby analyst Ian Jones as we count down to the (probable) announcement next week of the new All Blacks coaching team.
Despite 26 coaches being shoulder-tapped to apply for the vacant position, it appears it is now a two-horse race between 2012-19 All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster and 2017-19 Super Rugby-winning Crusaders coach Scott Robertson.
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“Ultimately, I’ll back whoever gets the job. I played with Fozzie at the Chiefs and with Razor at the All Blacks. I’m adamant that I’ll support whoever it is 100 percent,” says Jones.
“You’ve got the established, the status quo, with Fozzie. He’s a details man. The players know where they stand with him and the direction they are heading. It looks like the team he is putting together is New Zealand to the core.
“On the flip side, Steve Hansen told us that Foster was coaching at the peak of his powers and yet we got spanked by England. If he’s at the top of his game, is he going to improve? That might be a wake-up call. Hansen’s record was amazing, but you need to look at the last two years from the Lions tour. What did we learn from the losses and how did we improve? Foster was part of all that.”
Robertson represents the new breed with a new broom. The last time New Zealand Rugby made a clean break with the previous regime was in 2003-04 when Graham Henry ousted John Mitchell.
“He will bring a new direction and purpose. That’s exciting for the public, because this is New Zealand’s team, not just the union’s. NZR is a conservative lot historically and they haven’t often deviated from that status quo. If it’s Razor, then we’ll all be in for a helluva journey, and that will be exciting too,” says Jones.
He acknowledged the importance of having the right running mates. Failure to nail down that detail cost Robbie Deans when he applied for the All Blacks job in 2007. Scott McLeod, who did sterling work with the All Blacks’ defence in 2019, will surely feature in the thoughts of either Foster or Robertson.
“I don’t have the inside oil on who Razor’s running mates are, but there was talk of Ronan O’Gara. Mick Byrne’s been a resource coach for the All Blacks in the past and no disrespect to O’Gara, who’s clearly a very good coach, but do we need a non-New Zealander among the coaches?”
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Latest Comments
Lakai? Hell no, Kirifi is the like for like. I could never imagine Lakai throwing a dummy like Ardie, his had’s and offload are probably his best asset. Still a good option to replace Ardies function within the group. Happy for that to phase in slowly over the next two years.
Kirifi is someone demanding attention as Ardie’s/the teams go to back up option though. Like with you’re Kaino ref though, happy for that to reverse back again if Lakai simply starts outperforming him again. The Kaino role has really been filled by Cane (perhaps because they didn’t find a replacement) and the 6’s that have been used are more like a Read/Jones/Flavell/Fifita.
I really do like the idea of that rock being a little bigger and a little tougher than Cane though. Miracle looks like that guy, and there are few possible young kiwis coming through too. Barrett over Vaa’i for me, he just has a little of the mongrol and flair you also want.
Go to commentsI think you have gone in the wrong direction here Nick. I think you need to delve down into the rules etc around Moana Pacifica’s selection policies and then you need to understand that a lot of KIWI BORN rugby players have PI heritage. It appears ok for the 4 home nations to pillage NZ born players constantly without retribution but you want to question whether NZ BORN players should be eligible for NZ? Seems a real agenda in there.
Go back and look at the actual Aims and agenda for MP becoming a entity and you see lots of things enshrined in policy that you arnt mentioning here. EG there is an allowance for a percentage of MP to be NZ eligible. This was done so MP could actually become competitive. Lets be real. If it wasnt this way then MP would not be competitive.
There also seems to be some sort of claim ( mainly from the NH ) that NZ is “cashing in” on MP, which , quite frankly is a major error. Are you aware of how much MP costs NZR Financially?
39 NZ born rugby players played at the last world cup for Samoa or Tonga. PLUS plenty for Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales.
Taumoefolau is a BORN AND BRED NZer. However I very strongly doubt he will be an AB, but who do you believe he should be allowed to play for? Levi Aumua is ALSO a born and bred Kiwi.
Aumua was eligible to represent Samoa and Fiji for the Pacific Nations Cup in July that year but ended up playing for neither. He IS eligible for his nation of Birth too Nick
He is a Kiwi. Are you saying an NZ born, raised Kiwi cant play for NZ now?
Sorry Nick Kiwi born and bred actually qualify for NZ.
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