McKee to success
Kiwi coach overseeing rise of Fijian rugby
Kiwi Sydneysider John McKee was the ninth coach in 20 years when appointed in 2014, the start of what is turning out to be a rare era of coaching stability and success for the Flying Fijians.
Wellington-raised McKee left a career in planning and construction when the chance to coach professionally arrived, finding a variety of roles in Australia, France, Ireland, Tonga and with the short-lived Pacific Islanders outfit.
High-profile Kiwi coaches are dominating world rugby but McKee operates in relative obscurity despite guiding Fiji to four consecutive Pacific Nations Cup triumphs and a world ranking of 10.
McKee will crank up the 2019 World Cup preparations when Fiji play Scotland, Uruguay and France in November.
The 61-year-old chats about his rugby journey, Fiji’s triumphs and travails, and the player he hopes will light up the World Cup in Japan.
What’s your New Zealand background?
I grew up in Wellington and went to St Bernard’s College in Lower Hutt. I played for the Wellington Rugby Club — it was very strong back then, with players like Murray Mexted, Brendon Gardiner, Dave Henderson. Mexted and I were No 8 rivals — he taught me a few lessons there. I left New Zealand for Australia when I was 21 — no rhyme or reason, just a young guy looking for a change. I only intended going for six to 12 months.
Did you rub shoulders with any famous rugby players in Aussie?
My first full-time coaching job was with (Sydney club) Eastwood in 1996. Matt Burke and Daniel Manu were their big names — we won our first premiership in 1999, a big milestone for the club.
Your childhood hero was . . .
Growing up in the 1960s, Kel Tremain was a rugby hero of mine — he was the man.
Speaking of tough forwards — this is traditionally seen as the problem area for Fiji.
With Pacific Island rugby, and particularly Fijian rugby, people have always said ‘great attacking rugby but wobbly scrums and lineouts’. We’ve made massive improvements in the scrum as evidenced in the 2015 World Cup. We’ve also done a lot of work to build good depth with front rowers.
Our scrum is a bit ahead of our lineout. We’re working on our lineout strategy to suit the athleticism of our players. Once you get players like Leone Nakarawa into space, they will win the ball, but it’s about getting the ball to hand at the right moment, making sure the lifters make the right movements . . . the lineout is actually quite complex.
The All Blacks arrange camps . . . you aren’t even in the same time zone as many Fiji players.
This is the biggest challenge . . . the vast majority of our players are in the Northern Hemisphere. I need to track their form, injury status . . . I have various strategies, including computer-based well-being reporting by players. I spend a lot of time downloading video from various European competitions, parts of games, player highlights, or whole games to follow a player’s form.
I travel to Europe twice a year, four weeks each time — it’s an intensive road trip of face-to-face meetings with players. It’s one thing getting feedback from a player about his body weight, how he is feeling, how many minutes he is playing. It’s another putting them under a bit of pressure to work on what they need to do to play for us.
Do tier two countries still have problems getting players released for tests?
I’ve been doing this (Northern Hemisphere visits) for four years — it’s the first time anyone from Fiji has operated like this. Building a relationship with clubs is very important and works best with clubs who have staff continuity. Clubs need confidence players will be looked after in the Fiji environment. My last trip included visits to six UK clubs and nine in France. World Rugby and the national federations have worked hard to ensure clubs are doing the right thing and the situation has improved out of sight.
Are you doing anything special before the November tour?
A strength and conditioning coach, an Aussie named John Pryor, will spend extended periods in Europe, with targeted visits to players for work-ons and top-ups, to make sure they hit the ground running in November, and more importantly when they come into camp in 2019.
Would you like the All Blacks to play more tests in Pacific countries?
Romantically, yeah, I’d love the All Blacks and Wallabies to visit more. But I can understand the commercial realities. And as a coach myself, I understand that fitting everything in is difficult . . . you only get a few windows.
You’ve coached in many countries — what stands out about Fijian rugby?
Fijian rugby supporters are very knowledgeable about the game, which really impresses me. I think with all the Pacific teams, there is a very strong desire to represent the country, their people. It is something bigger than the individual. It can be a very emotional experience to be involved in that, when everyone is driven by that desire to make their people proud.
Around World Cup campaigns, in particular, you find people from a very poor background coming to the team to donate money. As a Westerner, it seems an amazing thing. Older people and people from villages with no access to banking will just turn up, people who don’t have much themselves. That becomes a big motivator for the players.
What sort of Fijian rugby scenes stick in your mind?
When you drive through the country areas on any afternoon, any bit of flat ground will have a rugby game on it whether there is grass or not . . . either touch, sevens, some sort of hybrid game. It’s something we’ve lost in more Western societies where kids tend to play organised sport. The park game is still very evident across the Pacific — I think it is a reason Fiji are so good at sevens. These kids grow up playing an unstructured game which encourages unorthodox skills.
What was the highlight of your own playing career?
I played a lot of rugby in Melbourne and for Victorian teams, back when international teams played midweek games. The game against France in the early ’80s was memorable. It was a bit of an eye-opener into skulduggery that night. Imagine a close game against France then, when they thought they would win easily. There was a bit happening off the ball . . . you would be running a support line and someone would trip you from behind. I hadn’t quite experienced that before. I was stuck on the bench against the All Blacks in 1988 . . . that was very frustrating.
Who might shine for Fiji at the World Cup?
Semi Radradra is a world-class star on the wing, and Leone Nakarawa an outstanding, athletic, world class lock. Josua Tuisova went to France as a young guy, and with wing being a strength, we let him focus on the sevens leading up to the Rio Olympics rather than rushing him into the Flying Fijians. So he hasn’t played a lot of tests but he’s one who could really light up the World Cup.