Rugby: Busy time ahead for new Auckland coach

Nick White says he's looking forward to the challenges that come with a head coaching position. Photo / Getty Images

Life will get a whole lot busier for Nick White through 2016 as the next NPC draws nearer.

The 41-year-old newly appointed head coach for Auckland will continue his role as the Blues scrum coach through to the conclusion of Super Rugby and will be wearing two hats for much of the time as he seeks to prepare a young and talented Auckland side which hopes to go one better after reaching two finals in the last four seasons.

"I just have to be organised, that's all," declares the affable former Auckland and Northland prop, who played Super Rugby for three franchises. He lives on a block of land in Coatesville with wife Nicky and three kids aged 13, 11 and seven.

"She's a full noise household... once I finish my rugby job during the day, I'm a taxi driver at night," says White.

Ever since he hung up his boots in 2008, he has immersed himself in the coaching scene with various roles for the Blues, Auckland and the New Zealand union. In 2015 he was Paul Feeney's forwards coach, and now with Feeney promoted to the Blues assistant post under Tana Umaga, White steps up, providing that continuity which the Canterbury and Crusaders seem to have had for many seasons.

While there is still a disconnect between the Blues and Auckland in the administration, White's appointment seems to have been largely well received within the always politically-charged Auckland rugby scene. Social media has given its assent. White played almost 100 games for the union, he knows the coaches, the players, the clubs, and increasingly importantly, the schools landscape. Those factors cannot be overstated.

Auckland rugby has issues which cannot be swept under the table, such as a decline in numbers for the crucial Under 20 and 21 grades, not to mention the financial health of several of its clubs, and the loss of many of its schoolboy stars to league, Waikato and Canterbury which saw its Under 19 side finish a paltry seventh at the national tournament.

But it is a fact that Auckland rugby's ITM Cup side has reached the semifinals five times in the last six years and were just a penalty shot at goal from winning the provincial crown for the first time since 2007. The players and coaches are not to blame for the widespread ignorance from those who cannot differentiate between the Blues and Auckland.
White knows all this, and understands the issues.

"One of the things I did with my jobs at the Blues and Auckland was getting out amongst the schools. I've been to quite a few and it's about building relationships with them and catching up with the coaches. Our talent ID guys are out there looking as well."

White already works closely with the ARU high performance manager Ben Meyer, whose role is becoming more crucial as the profile of schools rugby continues to rise. Some of the stars of the 2015 1A competition could be in White's sights for 2016 or 2017, when his two-year deal is up.

Club rugby is equally as important, but tends to get marginalised these days. Feeney did his best to shine some light on it, selecting many of the form players out of Auckland premier club play. So we saw, for example, No 8 Airi Hunt of Waitemata, hooker Kurt Eklund of University, and halfback Kaito Shigeno out of Ponsonby. Lock Scott Scrafton came on leaps and bounds from Grammar TEC. The move paid dividends and engendered much-needed goodwill from the embattled clubs.

White realises the importance of the clubs and plans to give them their dues, though he has only one or two spots to fill on his squad roster. All going well, those spots could go to the 2016 club standouts.

"We have to look after our clubs, get out and help our club coaches. A lot of them have fulltime jobs so don't get as much time to think about rugby. It's about pitching in and helping each other out and getting a better player at the end of it," says White.

Expect him to be sideline on Saturday afternoons, Blues home games permitting - he doesn't travel with the franchise, unlike Feeney in 2016 as a full assistant. Feeney and his predecessor Wayne Pivac were often visible at club rugby, a small but important necessity.

It has not always been that way with Auckland coaches.

Having said all that, the gap between ITM Cup and club rugby is not closing, just as the jump to Super Rugby remains wide. The trick is in melding the cream of club rugby with the fulltime pros and the fringe All Blacks. Feeney and the Auckland management did that to a tee in 2015, and the result was a strong team culture and solid results. But it is not straightforward, as Richie Harris found with winless Northland. He is a good coach who had some fine players under him, but things just did not gel in 2015.

There was some conjecture about whether Feeney would have some role to play in Auckland's 2016 campaign, but White says it will be nothing official, given the demands of fulltime coaching at the next level up.

"I'd be silly not to use him as a sounding board or to get advice from time to time, but at this stage he's with the Blues."

Feeney, a player regarded as something of a maverick in his days with North Harbour, revealed his passion and knowledge with the media. He was open and generally good for a quote. White, a less demonstrative character, is equally open with the media and foresees no issues in his demands rising sharply in that under-rated area.

"I'll have to upskill myself, but it'll be okay. I usually get on well with most of them!"
And of course, it always helps if you are winning...

White says a decision on his assistants for 2016 will be made before Christmas.

He may have most of his player contracts signed, but is does not mean he can formulate a clear team at this stage. Auckland has a clutch of fringe All Blacks or All Blacks returning from injury, men like Steven Luatua, Patrick Tuipulotu and George Moala. The brothers Ioane will probably be vying for an Olympic sevens gold medal just days before the NPC kicks off. Flanker Sean Polwart is still a day by day proposition as he battles concussion symptoms. This season's skipper Simon Hickey is due back from France in June/July, and will probably be keen for some club rugby.

White says being a head coach had always been in the back of his mind. But he was happy to bide his time.

"I just wasn't in a rush. Sometimes I think coaches and players are always in a rush and you lose some of the learnings along the way. It's probably come at the right time and it's about seeing if I'm up to it. It's no good coming into these roles too early. If your performance is not up to it, you get bailed out at the other end."

Into that bracket you can place myriad high profile coaches who were in over their heads with too much, too soon. Read Martin Johnson, John Kirwan, Jeff Wilson and Craig Dowd.

The latter pair (who were at the helm of North Harbour) have good rugby brains but the actual coaching proved difficult. Tana Umaga had his hands full at Toulon with a flamboyant owner, a passionate public mired in the glory days, and more money than was sensible. But he paid his dues, and came home to knuckle down at Counties Manukau. Umaga did the yards, as White has done for this job.

There are many challenging aspects of being a provincial coach - the calendar is not your friend, and melding pros and amateurs must be akin to herding sheep at times - but White is clear about what he wants from his players.

"Getting the basics and skillsets right is key, especially for young guys. We have a lot of them in this union. If we get their skills, decision-making and rugby sense right, we have enough individual talent to go a long way to being successful.

"We have to help a lot of the guys who are not playing Super Rugby. These are the players we need to get up to speed. In Super Rugby they get all the coaching and help they can, but not all the club rugby prepares these boys for the NPC. There's a big gap now."

"It'll all be bloody exciting and challenging," says White, before getting back to business with the Blues.