All Blacks coach Steve Hansen hunting Waratahs assistant
All Blacks boss Steve Hansen is headhunting one of the most highly-rated coaches in Australia, D-Day for the future of world rugby, Kurtley Beale’s art attack - it’s all in Rugby Confidential.
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All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has emerged as a key figure in the future of Waratahs assistant coach Simon Cron.
Both could end up at Japanese club Toyota Verblitz next year.
Rugby Confidential understands Hansen is set to become director of rugby at the team, and wants Cron to be his head coach.
Cron, who is off-contract at the end of this season at NSW, is a man in demand.
One of the most highly-rated coaches in Australia among players, Cron has transformed the Waratahs’ once shoddy set-piece into one of Super Rugby’s best.
The fact Hansen, regarded by many as the best coach in rugby, wants Cron speaks volumes.
The Waratahs have already announced that Daryl Gibson will continue as head coach next year.
Sources tell us Cron has not yet made a decision on his future, although the lure of working with Hansen, and lack of head coaching options in Australia will surely play a part in his thinking.
Toyota recently announced the signing of All Blacks captain Kieran Read, and luring Hansen would be a double jackpot for the franchise, which has never won the Top League.
Hansen, who coached the All Blacks to victory in the 2015 World Cup and was assistant when they won it in 2011, has announced he will step down from the job after this year’s World Cup but has yet to announce what he’s doing beyond that.
Ironically, Toyota are currently being coached by World Cup-winning mentor Jake White, who will be leaving.
Cron is the nephew of All Blacks scrum coach Mike Cron and is well connected in New Zealand.
He was signed by the Waratahs last season after leading Northern Suburbs to their first Shute Shield premiership in 41 years in 2016, then narrowly losing the 2017 final to Warringah.
Cron did not return our calls.
D-DAY FOR GLOBAL LEAGUE
The future of rugby is set to be decided in Dublin on Friday night (Australian time) with the major unions to vote on the global league proposal.
Rugby Australia has already signed off, making clear they want the World Nations Championship to be formed.
The other southern hemisphere nations are also understood to be totally supportive of the proposal, but the northern hemisphere countries remain unconvinced because of the promotion-relegation aspect of the tournament.
The 12 highest ranked nations were given an original deadline of March 29, but that was extended by a week because of the northerners’ concerns and threats to vote against the WNC.
It would not surprise if yet another extended deadline was tabled if the north continues to argue.
When we spoke to Infront, the marketing firm investing $9 billion into the WNC proposal over 12 years, they did not suggest they’d pull their offer if a decision could not be reached on Friday.
World Rugby is desperate for the proposal to get approved; it would give meaning to every Test match, make the global game more alluring to a new generation of fans, and provide a legitimate pathway for developing nations to compete with the big teams.
The northern nations, including England, Italy, Scotland and Ireland, fearing the prospect of being relegated to the second division would send them broke, are weighing up counter offers from private backers for the Six Nations.
But that would mean giving up some control of the tournament to those putting millions in.
Infront’s proposal allows World Rugby to retain full control of the game, and the firm would siphon off the rights to broadcasters around the world to capitalise on their investment.
RUGBY’S DYING IN THE BUSH
Rugby’s ongoing battle to keep the game alive at grassroots level is becoming harder by the year with country teenagers, who were once the lifeblood of the game, dropping out in increasing numbers.
It’s a problem that’s not only impacting on rugby, with teenagers around the world spending more time playing video games and staring at their smart phones than kicking a ball, but it’s the still the canary in the coal mine that national administrators need to be paying close attention to.
That being the case, the Illawarra region, one of the state’s traditional regional powerhouses in rugby, makes for alarming reading with South Coast teenagers having to play in Sydney because there’s no local competition for players above 15 years of age.
Despite having 10 senior clubs, stretching from Campbelltown to Nowra and including Wollongong, Bowral, Camden and Kiama, the next generation are deserting the 15-man game.
Overall junior playing numbers are down around 30% in the Illawarra, despite an increase in female participation, which is the lone area of growth.
Last year, only four clubs in the Illawarra were able to field teams in the first XV competition, for players aged under 17, but the number of registrations has dropped even further this year, forcing regional administrators to scrap the competition altogether.
Wayne Cusack, the junior chairman and director of Illawarra Rugby, has applied to enter an Illawarra Under 18s team in the Sydney Juniors competition as well as two Under 16s teams, one based at Wollongong and the other based at Camden, just to make sure the kids who do want play can still get a game.
“We’re doing everything we can,” he said. “The numbers are down in the older age groups but we’re not the lone ranger there, this is happening with a lot of different sports in different places.”
TOUGH BREAK FOR WILKIN
It’s been a tough road for backrower Brad Wilkin, who has unfortunately suffered his third anterior cruciate ligament tear.
Wilkin, the former Waratah now at the Melbourne Rebels, will miss the rest of the season after the serious knee injury.
He made his Super Rugby debut last year for NSW after successive ACL injuries had thwarted him.
Wilkin bounced back from the reconstructions to play for NSW and lead Sydney University to the Shute Shield premiership before signing a two-year deal with the Rebels.
We wish him well for his recovery.
BEALE’S ART ATTACK
A portrait of Wallabies player Kurtley Beale, painted by artist and musician Hugo Gruzman, has been submitted for the Archibald Prize.
The acrylic on canvas portrait features a barefoot Beale wearing jeans and a T-shirt.
Entries for the $100,000 competition close on Friday. It’s believed Beale is the first Wallaby to have been painted for the Archibalds.
