Rugby: Woeful results but Hammer not set to fall

Mark Hammett. Photo / Getty Images

It has been an awful campaign and could yet get worse but already the signals are strong that Mark Hammett will be given another year as coach of the Hurricanes.

The New Zealand Rugby Union has virtually no history of sacking under-performing coaches in the first year of their contract and, even if the Hurricanes fail to win another game, Hammett is almost certain to be at the helm in 2012.

The scuttlebutt in Wellington has hit on the theory that Hammett will be chopped if the Hurricanes finish below 10th place. That is unlikely - Hammett retains the support of his employer despite the difficulties he has had in driving performances and results from his star-studded squad.

The campaign has been a disaster. The Hurricanes began the season as genuine contenders - solid playoff hopefuls having made the top four in 2008 and 2009 and coming within a whisker in 2010. But 12 games on and they are currently lying 11th with just three wins.

They have 12 All Blacks in their squad and to be sitting behind the Cheetahs and alongside the Brumbies, Force and Rebels is a source of major embarrassment.

The Hurricanes will face their own playoff programme when they return from this weekend's bye to take on the Force, Lions and Chiefs. That run of games will sort out who is king of the nobodies.

The loss to the Rebels was the nadir and will be the game that everyone sees as typifying the Hurricanes' season. They played with no heart, no structure and no conviction that they knew what was expected of them.

It seems, however, none of this has changed the NZRU's thoughts on Hammett.

"We have a lot of faith in Hammer [Hammett]," says NZRU manager of professional rugby, Neil Sorensen. "We think he is an outstanding coaching prospect."

The NZRU have shown remarkable faith with previous coaches and are driven by the belief that success is unlikely to be instant; that coaches take time to develop. To cut someone after just one Super Rugby campaign would deny them the chance of learning from their mistakes.

While the Hurricanes have only won three games, they have at least shown some improvement in their performance in the last five weeks.

But so much of the original appointment process and rationale for appointing Hammett doesn't stand up when scrutinised.

Hammett retired from playing at the end of 2003 and moved almost immediately into an assistant role with the Crusaders and Canterbury. A natural leader and thinker with high personal values, Hammett was a respected member of the Crusaders coaching team.

Having served in the post for five years, he was desperate to take on a head coaching role by 2010. So when the Rebels called, he was keen. Not only did his wife have family in Melbourne but the deal reportedly came with the opportunity to work with Robbie Deans and the Wallabies.

It was that last point that may have distorted the NZRU's thinking; it may well have been at the mention of Deans and the Wallabies that emotion infiltrated the process of appointing the new Hurricanes coach.

Hammett was contracted to the NZRU until 2011 and they were not going to let him break it. Perhaps if the offer had come from South Africa, or from anyone other than Deans, then there might have been some leniency.

For all that he achieved with the Crusaders there are believed to be influential figures within New Zealand rugby who hold a grudge against Deans. The thought of Deans snaring Hammett and those two teaming up to prepare the Wallabies was one that sat uneasily with the NZRU.

With hindsight, the NZRU might now agree that they need to be cautious about elevating someone to a Super Rugby head coaching position before they have gained experience in a similar role at any other level.

Hammett has obvious qualities, was a superb assistant and may yet be a capable head coach. But Super Rugby is not the place to take risks; to see if a promising assistant really can hack it as a head coach.

The ITM Cup is the place for young coaches to gain experience. Pat Lam, Todd Blackadder, Ian Foster and Jamie Joseph all graduated to Super Rugby from head roles at provincial level. That at least gave them exposure to the demands of the role, just not under the same pressure and intensity of Super Rugby.