By WYNNE GRAY
Robbie Deans never set out to be a coach. Like professional rugby, it was a career path which just evolved.
Its origin came when he returned to his Glenmark club during his days as Canterbury and All Black fullback, to offer his ideas and methods on how to improve
the side's performance.
"As a rep player you have a responsibility to help out and it just grew from there, really," he recalls.
It has been some progression - Canterbury, the Crusaders, New Zealand A and now coaching co-ordinator with the All Blacks.
Coaching is a fulltime occupation for Deans, who had combined work on the family farm with training to be a teacher and several years' experience in the business world.
Training to coach has involved completing New Zealand Rugby Football Union courses and picking away at sports and business management papers.
"But it has been difficult in the last couple of years. I have enrolled in papers and had to withdraw because I have been so busy," he said.
Deans loved his time on the family farm - a property his grandfather started after World War I - but his coaching career means he now lives in Christchurch.
This week, he and coach John Mitchell, running round with the All Blacks at their training camp in Whangamata, looked as though they could still play a fair game of rugby.
Both have a hands-on approach, showing players what they want done, guiding them in individual tasks and even competing with them in a range of skills drills.
At 43, Deans still has choirboy looks, but these hide ruthless determination.
He does not have a long-term plan about his coaching shelf-life and does not have any preconceived ideas on how finite that time will be.
"But as coaches we have to learn from each experience, get better at what we do and provide the stimulation that the players need.
"It was one of my big fears when I first started coaching professionally that I had taken on something which I had chosen to do for recreation because I enjoyed it, and I was concerned when I took it on as a job that that passion might diminish.
"We have had some success and there is no doubt that retaining your motivation is the key. If you don't enjoy what you do, you won't persevere when it is most critical."
Deans has weighed up that factor carefully against the regular criticism that coaches suffer and the enjoyment he had last winter when he coached his 12-year-old son's local rugby side.
"The rewards are there when you achieve," he said.
Deans was first approached to help out with the All Blacks when John Hart was coach. At that stage Deans was coaching Canterbury in the NPC and managing the Crusaders. The offer was flattering, but the timing was wrong.
The circumstances last year were different. He had far more experience and the opportunity occurred when Wayne Smith had second thoughts about his credentials.
Deans had perhaps the top qualifications among the other candidates, but he thought the Rugby Union would appoint a coach with forwards expertise.
"That was my first instinct; I felt they were looking for a forward emphasis because we had Hart, then Smith, and they were looking to change."
It did not take long for Deans to agree to be Mitchell's assistant. They knew each other already, they had played together in the classic All Blacks and worked at Sanzar level.
"Given that he was keen for me to work with him, it wasn't a big step. I see myself as having the opportunity to do what I applied to do anyway.
"I am ambitious in terms of performance, not in terms of a title.
"Titles to me have no meaning, really ... At the end of the day we all work together to achieve a common purpose and 'Mitch' heads that up.
"All you seek is the licence to do your job."
One of the many tasks Deans has as backs coach is to sharpen the fluctuating form of Jonah Lomu and Christian Cullen.
"We will start with the basics. That is the same with every player. I think there is a perception that when you get to this level you concentrate on the complex, but it is quite the opposite.
"To play this game effectively you have to do the simple things well and then combine that so you can execute under pressure.
"I think that has been a weakness with the New Zealand game in the past. We have tended to go for the macro and do complicated moves instead of sorting out the basics."
Working with Lomu and Cullen would be no different from preparing the other backs, Deans said. They were very capable, talented players, and there just might be a change of emphasis. Lomu would be used in a number of ways.
"I think in the past Jonah has been asked to serve the team but the team has not served him particularly well," Deans suggested. His biggest challenge as a coach was finding new ways of doing the same thing, making sure he was enthused by his job and that he continued to stimulate his players.
He had gone to Australia and America to study other codes and tapped into the knowledge of sports people and many who had little contact with sport.
"You take cues everywhere. I do a lot of watching other sports because most team sports are about manipulating space."
He enjoyed his first trip as an All Black coach to Ireland, Scotland and Argentina. While there were some mixed performances, there had been huge benefits in blooding a number of new players.
This year, his challenge would be creating the sort of unity the Crusaders had, coaching those who had not experienced his methods before and taking a long-term outlook with a short-term focus.
"We have to keep working towards the performance and if we do that we will add to our belief and we will get there."
All Blacks test schedule/scoreboard
By WYNNE GRAY
Robbie Deans never set out to be a coach. Like professional rugby, it was a career path which just evolved.
Its origin came when he returned to his Glenmark club during his days as Canterbury and All Black fullback, to offer his ideas and methods on how to improve
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