Search for coach gets complicated
Rugby Australia should show patience see who misses out on the All Blacks job before appointing a successor to Michael Cheika
There is no question it would make Australia look like it is settling for second best.
That said, should the appointment of Michael Cheika’s successor at the Wallabies be held over until after the All Blacks have decided on their coach?
Both countries are working to very similar time frames, with New Zealand also announcing it will decide who will replace Steve Hansen by Christmas. In that event, should Rugby Australia show some restraint while quietly notifying all of the All Black contenders that there could be a soft landing for one lucky loser.
This is, of course, predicated on two facts: one, that Dave Rennie has not already been promised the Wallabies job and, two, that Eddie Jones has indicated that he is not interested in returning home or that Rugby Australia simply cannot afford him.
Australia must be at prohibitively long odds to secure Jones, especially if he wins the World Cup with England on Saturday. If the experience of the only other man ever to take England to the Webb Ellis Cup is any guide, there may even be a knighthood in it for him if his side can beat South Africa on Saturday in Yokohama.
He will have nothing left to prove if he remains in England. It will be different if he returns to Australia, he will find all the baggage of his ugly 2005 dismissal from the Wallabies still to be sorted through.
As for Rennie, the suspicion remains that Rugby Australia hasn’t been totally honest with the rugby community. It is almost certainly true when RA reassures Australians that no contracts have been signed yet. But what has he been promised?
Right up to Cheika’s departure, there had been only one name mentioned in regard to the Wallabies – Rennie’s – and Australians would be totally naive if they thought it was beyond RA going through the charade of searching for the best candidate for national coach – and then, surprise, surprise, coming back to Rennie.
Yet one other thing also needs to be stressed. Rennie is an excellent coach. There is no question of that. But is he the best Australia can get?
The field lining up to succeed Hansen includes some of the best coaches in the world – Scott Robertson, Jamie Joseph, Ian Foster and perhaps Warren Gatland. New Zealand rugby boss Steve Tew, who will hand over his position to Mark Robinson before the end of the year, believes it will be impossible for Gatland to coach New Zealand given he has already committed to coaching the British and Irish Lions on their tour to South Africa in 2021.
Yet why should that necessarily disqualify him?
Yes, it would cause complications in the 2021 season when the All Blacks are set to play Fiji during the June-July window but those Tests could be covered by one of his assistant All Black coaches while he takes the Lions for one last time.
Jones, surely, has been earmarked for the Lions tour of Australia in 2025. Just imagine how that would drive ticket sales. But back to Gatland … if New Zealand really want him to coach the All Blacks they will find a way to accommodate his Lions adventure. Only if they are looking for excuses not to pick him does it become an issue.
From an Australian perspective, Gatland looms as a more user-friendly coach than Jones but, given he has already indicated he will coach the Chiefs in Super Rugby next season, it could get awkward. He hasn’t yet nominated for the All Blacks job but if he does that would seem to indicate he also would consider an offer from Australia.
More likely the NZ position will be contested by Robertson, Joseph and Foster. Tew already has bucked the trend once by reappointing Graham Henry, Hansen and Wayne Smith to the All Blacks following their shock exit at the quarter-final stage of the 2007 World Cup. The troika then took NZ through to the 2011 World Cup before Henry handed over to Hansen who then masterminded the win of 2015.
So sticking with a “loser” this time and handing the baton to Foster, an All Blacks assistant coach since 2012 and seemingly the heir apparent to Hansen, would not be too outlandish. But it would be dull.
Japan have made it quite clear they want to retain Joseph as head coach. Why wouldn’t they? It seemed he was on a hiding to nothing taking over the Brave Blossoms in the wake of Eddie Jones, who had masterminded the Miracle of Brighton, beating the Springboks in the 2015 World Cup. But Joseph has actually taken the work done by Jones and improved on it, taking down not one but two tier one nations in Ireland and Scotland and winning Pool A. It was the first time in history that Japan had advanced to the World Cup quarter-finals and, though they were comprehensively monstered by the Springboks at that stage, they had still won legions of fans with their style of rugby.
If Joseph misses out on the All Blacks job the question is whether he would be prepared to take on Australia or saddle up again with Japan. There is also the issue of Tony Brown, his long-time assistant coach. He was the mastermind of the Japanese attacking style – and had been strongly recommended to RA chief executive Raelene Castle as a coach who might have been prepared to take over from Cheika a year ago – but he has signed on as a Highlanders assistant for next season. So there may be complications.
Robertson is looking as the man New Zealand will turn to. He has won the last three Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders. Lest anyone sneers at him coaching the All Blacks, it should be pointed out those titles in 2017-18-19 were the first claimed by the Crusaders since Robbie Deans won in 2008 before heading over to coach the Wallabies – after having lost the All Blacks job.
Robertson is enough of a larrikin to appeal to Australians and seemingly coaches because he loves it. Parents standing on the sideline at GPS club training earlier this season might have wondered who the long-legged Kiwi was doing the rounds of the junior teams, helping the coaches, mobilising the kids. It was Robertson, who barely a week earlier had won the Super Rugby title. He had turned up unannounced and just took it upon himself to help out.
The moment is ripe for a coach like him to take charge of the Wallabies. Trouble is, the Kiwis will be thinking similar thoughts.
Robertson, Joseph, Foster, Gatland … only one can win the New Zealand job. Three will miss out. Patience, Australia.
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