Report: All Blacks coach Steve Hansen set to join Japanese club Toyota Verblitz

Steve Hansen Coach of the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport.co.nz

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is set to become Japanese rugby club Toyota Verblitz's director of rugby, according to reports from Australia.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph has reported that Hansen will join All Blacks captain Kieran Read at the Japanese team following the World Cup.

The report suggests Waratahs assistant coach Simon Cron could be lined up as Toyota's coach.

The side's currently being guided by Jake White who mentored South Africa to the 2007 World Cup.

Cron, who is off-contract at the end of this season at NSW, is a man in demand.

All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen at All Blacks training session at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

One of the most highly-rated coaches in Australia among players, Cron has transformed the Waratahs' once shoddy set-piece into one of Super Rugby's best.

The Waratahs have already announced that Daryl Gibson will continue as head coach next year.

The Telegraph reported Cron has not yet made a decision on his future, although the lure of working with Hansen, and lack of head coaching options in Australia would form part of his thinking.

Toyota recently announced the signing of All Blacks captain Read, and luring Hansen would be a double jackpot for the franchise, which has never won the Top League.

Hansen, who coached the All Blacks to victory in the 2015 World Cup and was assistant when they won it in 2011, has announced he will step down from the job after this year's World Cup but has yet to announce what he's doing beyond that.

Cron is the nephew of All Blacks scrum coach Mike Cron and is well connected in New Zealand.

He was signed by the Waratahs last season after leading Northern Suburbs to their first Shute Shield premiership in 41 years in 2016, then narrowly losing the 2017 final to Warringah.