Martin Devlin.
To be or not to be the next All Blacks coach? That is most definitely the question facing Steve Hansen, whose immediate future following next year's Rugby World Cup has been the subject of intense speculation lately.
The one thing we do all know is that we now will know
sometime tomorrow morning, Hansen making his intentions known at a press conference in Auckland.
It seems like a distant memory and maybe that's because it is but I do recall that the original idea was he would step away altogether following the Japan tournament. Then during last year's Lions tour, (although please don't hold me to the exactness of this timeline), he indicated that may no longer be the case, the latest word going around being that perhaps he'll step aside, not away, and take up some newly-created over-arching role where he can still be involved just not as the actual Head Honcho like he is now.
To me this makes perfect sense, i.e. keeping the man involved.
Because apart from the arguments that start with "time for a fresh voice, his message has gone stale etc etc", (arguments I feel are more kneejerk than substantive), I've yet to hear anything constructive or worthwhile that convinces me we'll be better off as a team by completely ridding ourselves of his experience, knowledge and wisdom.
