Vern Cotter is departing the Blues after a three-year stint as coach. Photo / Photosport
Timing conspired to rule Vern Cotter out of All Blacks coaching contention.
Three months ago, long before Scott Robertson’s sudden departure as All Blacks head coach this month, the Queensland Reds approached Cotter about the prospect of switching allegiance from the Blues.
The Reds were in the hunt for a replacement leader as Les Kiss prepares to assume charge of the Wallabies from July, and they identified the vastly experienced Cotter as their primary target.
Discussions progressed to the point that, by the time NZ Rugby made its decisions to remove Robertson from the All Blacks, Cotter had verbally committed to join the Reds from the 2027 Super Rugby season.
While Jamie Joseph and Dave Rennie are widely considered the leading candidates to contest the vacant All Blacks head coaching post, Cotter’s international experience with Scotland and Fiji marked him as another option, or for a potential role as assistant in a new coaching team.
Instead, after his third season guiding the Blues this year, Cotter will move to Brisbane for the next two years.
Cotter joins Joe Schmidt, who remains committed to Rugby Australia until the 2027 World Cup, as high-profile candidates now unavailable for the All Blacks.
Highly regarded attack coach Tony Brown also intends to fulfil his contract with the Springboks until the World Cup, and Wayne Smith is departing New Zealand rugby.
“That was a surprise. We were well down conversations with the Reds,” Cotter said of the All Blacks coaching change.
“I was a bit blindsided by the Razor thing. No one thought that was coming. There was a review after two years and two years before the World Cup but we were too far down the track. It would’ve been hard to say ‘I’m going to make myself available for the All Blacks’.
“Everyone would love to coach the All Blacks, but it’s timing and it didn’t work out.”
Cotter contested the All Blacks head coaching position 15 years ago when Steve Hansen assumed charge. While he left the door ajar to joining the national team in future, the 63-year-old is realistic that may not eventuate.
“I would love to coach the All Blacks. I applied in 2011. That’s a long time ago now. I had given my word [to the Reds] and I don’t like letting people down.
“You’d be silly to rule that out, but, at the moment, there’s two years and that will take us to the World Cup. We’ll see what happens but, hopefully, the All Blacks will be successful and they won’t need another coach for a few more years.
“And there’s some really good coaches who will be available for the All Blacks and coaches with international experience. We’ve got them here – Paul Tito has had experience; Greg Feek, Dan Halangahu with Tonga. There’s some really good coaches around the country. They [NZR] know what they want and I’m sure they’ll run a process that will get the right person for it.”
Cotter – dubbed “Stern Vern” for his forwards-dominated, hardened approach – arrived at the Blues after coaching extensively in New Zealand, France, Scotland and Fiji. He guided the Blues to a breakthrough Super Rugby title – their first in 21 years – in his first season at the helm in 2024 after they conceded 52 points in their humbling 2023 semi-final exit.
Last year, Cotter’s Blues lost 21-14 to the Crusaders, last year’s champions, in their semi-final in Christchurch.
“I had a remit. There was a job here to be done around the way we went about our business and the rock-solid foundations.
“As you get longer in the tooth, three years is a long time – it’s probably worth six years 20 years ago. I’ve loved the Blues and will always be backing them, but this is another chance for myself and my family to try to create success in another environment in six months’ time.
“I want to go to the end again this year. We’re driven. We had a good pre-season. The whole emphasis has been on learning from last season and getting better.”
Cotter and new Blues chief executive Karl Budge held transparent discussions in recent months to leave the franchise well placed as it continues the search for a replacement head coach next year.
“Vern’s a cracking coach and he’s done a great job for us and we want to build another step ahead,” Budge said. “There’s no set timeline at the moment. We want to cast the net pretty wide and make sure we’ve done all our homework. That process will take care of itself over the coming weeks and months.
“We’ve got our targets in sight that we want to have conversations with but the phone is very much on.”
From next year when Cotter jumps ship, the Blues and Reds rivalry will garner heightened interest.
“There will be a bit of an edge to them now,” Budge said. “Vern likes his red wine and so do I, so maybe we’ll have to have something riding on those games.”
Liam Napier is a senior sports journalist and rugby correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.