The Front Page: All Blacks coaching drama: Is it time to consider bringing in a foreign coach?

Ian Foster is set to be replaced as All Blacks coach. Photo / Getty Images

As New Zealand continues the process to appoint a new All Blacks coach, questions are being asked about why, for the third coaching selection process in a row, there are only two candidates for the biggest job in New Zealand sport.

The difficulty of attracting local coaching talent comes at a time when the All Blacks have lost any claim to being the best rugby team in the world, while the northern nations make enormous headway in recent years.

Asked by The Front Page podcast whether NZ Rugby would ever shift its gaze to international talent, NZ Herald chief sports writer Liam Napier says that while it’s still unlikely, things could change in the future.

“It won’t happen any time soon, but if someone like Scott Robertson got the job, we may well have a foreign assistant coach,” says Napier.

“He brought Ronan O’Gara, the Irish great, down to the Crusaders with him... Robertson is a guy who is open to those sorts of things.”

It certainly hasn’t been uncommon for New Zealand’s coaching talent to head overseas and coach national teams. Warren Gatland remains head coach for Wales, while Robbie Deans and Dave Rennie have coached the Wallabies - and All Black legend Sir John Kirwan had a four-year stint coaching Japan’s national team.

Discussions about foreign coaches working with sacred national teams are by no means limited to rugby. After years of disappointment, there are currently serious discussions in Brazil about an Italian, Carlo Ancelotti, taking over to coach the national team. It wasn’t long ago that any suggestion of this would have been sacrilegious.

So what would it take for NZ Rugby to consider it?

“They have to be open to it,” argues Napier.

“When you’re not the best in the world, you have to look around the world and take the best bits from other teams. Look, if someone like Andy Farrell or Fabien Galthié put their hand up after just winning a world cup, you’d have to consider it.”

Not helping the hunt for local applicants are the difficult circumstances around this process. Six months shy from the Rugby World Cup in France, NZ Rugby last month flagged their intentions to appoint a new coach within six months, which prompted current coach Ian Foster to announce he would not apply.

It leaves Foster in the uncomfortable position of being the coach in the lead-up to a Rugby World Cup with his replacement waiting in the wings, no matter which way the tournament goes.

“Awkward is a great way to describe it,” Napier says.

“In an ideal world, you’d have a transition phase where the new coach coming in would be involved in that environment. He would observe what’s happening and get a real feel for the team dynamic, what’s working, what’s not and what he’d want to change when he takes over.”

Napier points to the example of John Mitchell taking over from Wayne Smith, saying there was a clear handover period.

“Smithy worked with John when he took over. He gave him some advice and I think that really helped John Mitchell and Robbie Deans when they took over.”

Napier struggles to see how this will happen this time.

“I think the All Blacks are going to want to close the doors and focus on the World Cup,” says Napier.

“They’ll have a bit of a siege mentality and really just try to block out any distractions. I think the new coach is going to come in quite cold and they’re not going to have a great idea of what’s been happening in that environment necessarily.”

So who of the two frontrunners will most likely get the top job? Which contenders refused to participate? Why is there such a dearth of coaching talent in New Zealand? And what are the chances of the All Blacks winning the World Cup?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page to hear Napier’s full rundown on the drama happening backstage in the All Blacks camp.