Rugby: Kick-start to coaching career

Grant Fox hardly needs an introduction. At 36, he could comfortably sit back and reflect on his 78-game, 46-test match All Black career which saw him set points scoring records galore and marked him as one of the greatest match winners in the history of the game.

And beneath the extraordinary feats he performed for Auckland and All Black rugby lay his contribution in terms of dedication and meticulous preparation for the battles his teams engaged in around the world.

Fox was at the core of a group of players who raised rugby to new heights, and in the process created some of the finest teams the game has seen, including the 1987 All Blacks who won the first World Cup.

Before his playing career had ended, he became involved in a sports marketing company which has led to him part owning Carnegie Sports International. His partners are Murray International Holdings, a Scottish steel company which holds the majority ownership of the Glasgow Rangers football club.

Fox has given part-time assistance to Blues and Auckland NPC sides but fired by a desire to see Auckland rugby return to the top, he wanted a fulltime role which he has now gained as Pivac's assistant.

Fox will drop his day-to-day running of Carnegie, which has a staff of eight, and will also cut short his duties as a television commentator to dedicate himself to his new coaching job.

He had intended leaving the commentating role this year anyway, but after covering the All Blacks' four home tests, Television New Zealand has allowed him out of his contract to cover the World Cup.

The Fox family - wife Adele, 12-year-old son Ryan and nine-year-old daughter Kendall - live at Beachlands on Auckland's east coast. Fox is president of the local rugby club, and as part of his deal with Auckland he made sure he would still be able to help coach Ryan's team at St Kentigern's.

"Once I started playing for Auckland I got used to that environment of living in the limelight and it is not something that I've ever been afraid of," says Fox.

"I've always had a deep passion for Auckland rugby and my feeling for it runs deeper than anything like the perk of covering the World Cup.

"I'd always been available to help Auckland and my driving ambition is to get Auckland rugby back to the top. I'm certainly not thinking anything like I want to coach the All Blacks in 10 years time."

Maurice Trapp, who returned to coach Auckland after Henry left suddenly for Wales last year, pinpointed a lack of professionalism among the players as a reason for the demise.

Fox says: "I agree with a lot of the comments Maurice Trapp made, but I believe the players have come back this year with a far better attitude. There was a bit of an attitude that all you had to do was pull on the Auckland jersey to win.

"Auckland rugby needs to re-establish its culture. Some of the senior players were not teaching the new players as well as they could have. And some of the new players were not listening properly - there was fault on both sides."