Rugby: AB back where he started

Derren Witcombe. Photo / Getty Images

Derren Witcombe didn't know what he was going to do. His rugby career went down with him after his neck injury in a collapsed scrum during Auckland's opening game of the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup campaign.

The former All Blacks hooker had always been told his rugby career could be over at any time but Witcombe had hoped it might be years later than 28. His neck, however, dealt to those thoughts. He had spent time in forestry before becoming a professional rugby player but didn't have many options.

Four years later, Witcombe is very clear about what he wants to do. Yesterday, he was back where his professional career started, this time coaching the Northland forward pack in their ITM Cup season opener against Tasman.

At 32, he is one of the youngest professional coaches in the country. It's been an incredible and somewhat fortuitous journey: "It was a pretty tough time," Witcombe admits of his premature retirement. "It was a what-do-I-do-now sort of thing. I didn't really know where I was heading."

Pat Lam provided some direction. Lam, Auckland coach in 2007, invited Witcombe and halfback Steve Devine to help with team analysis and, in Witcombe's case, one-on-one work with the front-rowers.

Devine had also been forced into retirement in the same game against Counties Manukau as Witcombe. The following year, the pair coached the Auckland Colts and continued their links with Lam and Auckland.

It was then that Witcombe decided to pursue coaching seriously. He got a job with Japanese second division outfit NTT Docomo, working with former Japan captain Andrew McCormick (son of former All Black Fergie McCormick), as their forwards coach in 2009 and 2010.

"My head was still not clear after having to retire but I felt I needed to go somewhere to coach to get the basics right," Witcombe says. "Coming from the level I had been playing at, it would have been easy to over-complicate things but you couldn't do that in Japan. Communication was everything.

"I always thought I would have a couple of years away in Japan to put myself in a pressure situation, especially as I didn't have much coaching experience. Being a former All Black probably helped me get the job because I had experience and knowledge - but that was as a player, not a coach. I had to earn respect."

It's what he's trying to do now in Northland as Adriaan Ferris' No2. As a former Northlander - he went to school in Whangarei and first played for the Taniwha in 2001 - he feels an affinity with the province. In some cases, he's instructing players older than he is.

"I'm in a pretty privileged position because I'm pretty young," he says. "It just means I need to work pretty hard at it, not only for me but also for the team. I want to make a career out of this, so I'm putting a lot of hours into it. I'm not resting on my laurels as a player. Not all good players make good coaches and, in some respects, you have to work harder.

"I like to be organised anyway. I'm a details kind of coach; I was a details kind of player. I used to focus on the little things because if you don't get them right, anything can happen."

After what Witcombe has been through, he knows that more than anyone.