Next All Blacks coach: Dane Coles confirmed as former player on appointment panel

Former All Black Dane Coles will sit on the panel charged with finding the coach to replace Scott Robertson, New Zealand Rugby has confirmed.

Coles, 39, will join fellow former All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) chair David Kirk – another former All Black – interim NZR chief executive Steve Lancaster and NZR high-performance expert Don Tricker on the five-man panel.

That panel will be tasked with shortlisting and interviewing candidates for the role, before NZR’s board has the final say on who the next coach will be.

“The All Blacks head coach is an incredibly important appointment,” Lancaster said as NZR confirmed its appointment process last month.

“We’ve started the process and are giving it the care and urgency it deserves to set the team up for success. We’ll provide further updates as soon as we can.”

NZR has approached a handful of coaches to apply for the role, including World Cup winner Sir Steve Hansen and Robertson’s predecessor Ian Foster, who was an assistant coach to Hansen in the 2015 World Cup win and lost the 2023 final as head coach.

Dane Coles heads for the tryline in the 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool A match against Italy in Lyon, France. Photo / Photosport

Highlanders and ex-Japan coach Jamie Joseph and former Wallabies and Chiefs boss Dave Rennie are also understood to be in the running.

The deadline for coaches to apply for the All Blacks head coaching role was February 3.

Coaches who apply must meet the criteria of both having international experience and being New Zealanders.

A veteran of 90 tests, Coles last donned the black jersey in 2023, after he was overlooked for the All Blacks’ Rugby World Cup final defeat to South Africa.

Regardless, Coles’ test career, which began in 2012, saw him win the World Cup with New Zealand in 2015, finishing third in 2019 and as runners-up in 2023.

At club level, Coles played 141 times for the Hurricanes and lifted the side’s inaugural title as captain in 2016. After retiring from test rugby, Coles played one season with Japanese Rugby League One side the Kubota Spears.