Rugby: New chief wanted

Ian Foster did more than anyone else to build some kind of respectability and confidence. Photo / Getty Images

A plum coaching gigs go, the soon-to-be-vacant post at the Chiefs is possibly the best opportunity in world rugby.

The ingredients are all there to turn the country's great underachievers into a Super Rugby heavyweight and the importance of the franchise making the right coaching appointment is critical. The right man at the helm could turn the Chiefs into the force they have only threatened to be in patches since they were formed in 1996.

Their history could kindly be described as mixed, or less kindly but more accurately assessed as hugely disappointing, and that is the ultimate attraction of the job.

The potential is huge but not widely appreciated and the previous achievement limited - the perfect equation for an ambitious coach hoping to make his mark.

Yet the immediate past has not been entirely chaotic or without success. Ian Foster's reign will no doubt be judged harshly when compared with the Hurricanes and Crusaders over the same period. Compared with his predecessors at the Chiefs, however, he has been the shining light, the man who did more than anyone else to build some kind of respectability and confidence.

Regardless of what happens this season, there just hasn't been a sustained period of dominant results during the Foster era. There were two good campaigns - the run to the semifinals in 2004 and the glorious effort to make the 2009 final.

In between there were enough hard luck stories to fill a bucket, scarcely believable injury tolls and bad luck that wouldn't be wished on an enemy.

The Chiefs became known as the late chargers, the form team in the final weeks but scuppered by their lack of points accrued in the earlier rounds. There has been enough to be excited, but ultimately there has never been enough to be convinced. There has always been an 'if only' element attached to the Chiefs and, really, whoever takes over as coach is being employed to remove those two damaging words.

They should feel confident about doing so. More than that even, they should be sure now they will have failed if they don't establish the Chiefs as regular playoffs participants.

Foster may not have given the region results, but he has given it a previously unknown unity. Provincial loyalties have not plagued the Chiefs the way they have the Blues.

In 2006, the board bought into the concept of building the franchise around the strength of Waikato akin to the model that has worked so well for Canterbury and the Crusaders. The players seem comfortable with that vision - seeing the Chiefs as an entity in itself rather than as an amalgamation of players from three rival provinces.

The definitive proof of that has been the transition of the Chiefs from sellers to buyers. This is a side that players, big-name players with big futures, have been happy to join. Byron Kelleher and Mils Muliaina were the biggest acquisitions and, probably until Israel Dagg and Zac Guildford signed with the Crusaders, were the two biggest domestic transfers of the professional age.

Others such as Tom Willis, Ben Afeaki and Isaac Ross have been persuaded to join the Chiefs ahead of other teams and that ability to attract players sits as one of the key weapons for the new appointment.

The other key weapon is the strength of the region's homegrown talent. Counties Manukau is a prolific breeding ground. Raw, explosive athletes seemingly grow on trees in South Auckland.

The Bay of Plenty, with the fearsomely strong Rotorua Boys' and Tauranga Boys' high schools feed ample talent into the academy programmes while Waikato, particularly with Hamilton Boys' in such good shape, continue to build promising youngsters such as Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Jackson Willison. And though Muliaina and Sitiveni Sivivatu may well leave after the World Cup, the next generation already look capable of taking over.

Tim Nanai-Williams is hard to leave out of the side, Kerr-Barlow is flawed but lively, Romana Graham, Ross, Culum Rettalick, Afeaki, Toby Smith, Ben May and Hika Elliot give the Chiefs depth and longevity in the tight five while Liam Messam can make anything happen.

Richard Kahui, Willison and even the old master Tana Umaga will provide certainty in the midfield in 2012 and the only concern is at first five-eighths as neither Stephen Donald nor Mike Delany are guaranteed to stay in New Zealand after this year.

The base of players is there. The franchise boasts the best rugby stadium in the country. A loyal fan base just needs to be coaxed back with a sustained run of results and, to date, the Chiefs have been financially buoyant, capable of paying well.

"We think it is an outstanding opportunity," said chief executive Gary Dawson.

It's a view shared by former North Harbour and USA Eagles coach Peter Thorburn. "The region is pretty well served by the likes of Counties and Bay of Plenty producing good players as, of course, does Waikato. I think they just need to start playing some decent rugby and winning a few games and the crowds will come back.

"They haven't achieved what they feel they should and I think they have been hurt by their decision to hire immediate former players as specialist coaches."

That last point is the critical one. Maybe that's all the Chiefs have been missing - skilled, experienced specialists to tighten the lineout and scrum and sharpen the micro skills.

They have grown tactically, physically and psychological under Foster. But maybe Thorburn is right, all they have been lacking is some technical polish to keep the basics accurate under pressure.

If that's the case, it really does make this job one of the most enticing in world rugby.