Straight-shooter Jane still hitting his targets
Listening to Cory Jane, you don’t doubt the likelihood he’ll become an elite coach.
Once among the smartest players in New Zealand, the Rugby World Cup winner and Super Rugby champion ‘‘purposely’’ doesn’t own a pair of boots these days.
Since his playing career came to a quiet end in Japan, the 35-year-old’s become part of the Wellington Lions’ coaching staff. Backline defence, and the back-three, will be his specialty once things start in earnest next month but with backs coach Andre Bell still overseas, Jane’s been looking after the attack, too.
‘‘I need to go get some [boots] now, to help out at training, but I purposely didn’t for the first couple of months because I didn’t want to jump into the drill. I’ve done my bit there and now it’s about upskilling these guys,’’ Jane said this week.
In the meantime, he’s rather in demand as a pundit. And you can see why.
Jane played more than 100 games for the Hurricanes, before cleaning out his locker at the end of the 2017 season. A few high-profile former team-mates were even within earshot, at the training facility shared by Wellington and the Hurricanes, as he began his appraisal of the 2018 side’s recent struggles.
‘‘The forwards were dominating or holding their own and it was allowing the backs to get some good ball [earlier in the season]. The last few games they haven’t been able to dominate, haven’t been able to get on the front foot, which has caused frustration and that’s where the mistakes and penalties start to come in,’’ Jane said.
‘‘To me, they haven’t had a Plan B. That started from the Crusaders game [on May 25]. The weather was crap, they wanted to play a little bit of rugby, the Crusaders didn’t want to play any and tried to beat them up and there was no real Plan B. They lost the territory battle and lost the game.
‘‘Again, you go down to the Highlanders [the following week] and a few mistakes and discipline cost them. It’s just been heading that way and they need to find what got them going in those first few games and, during that 10 [wins] on the trot, they played some good rugby.
‘‘You look at the Crusaders game they played at the stadium [on March 10]. The Hurricanes forwards just beat them up. They were flying into everything. It looks like things might’ve got a little stale or whatever, because it’s not happening at the moment.’’
Which seems hard to fathom for we observers. We look at names such as Barrett, Perenara, Savea and MilnerSkudder in the Hurricanes’ backline and wonder why they can’t just turn the magic on, regardless of how the forwards are going.
‘‘You can’t just rely on individuals. That’s what the Blues do,’’ Jane said.
‘‘The Blues look to me like they don’t have an understanding of what they’re trying to achieve. They rely on individuals [and say] ‘here, have a run. Do something for us’ and if it doesn’t work it’s ‘uh-oh’.
‘‘And so we don’t want the Hurricanes to go into that mindset. They’ve got great players, but it’s a team game at the end of the day.’’
Not many former players are as frank as that. Particularly those so recently removed from the dressing room.
But that’s Jane. He can be playing the fool on television one minute and making a very considered point the next.
Some might think diplomacy, and being devoid of personality, could make for a smooth run up the coaching ranks. Not this bloke.
‘‘I just try and be me. So when it’s time to say what you need to say, then I’ll say it.
‘‘When I do the TV stuff, I just try to say it how it is. You get a few guys that don’t want to stir the pot and [go] ‘oh yeah, nah’. I just go ‘I don’t think this team is going to win’.
‘‘I won’t say stuff just negatively out there and just blast somebody, but I just say it how it is.’’
After all, it’s nothing that guys who played with him haven’t heard before. Jane got the most out of himself as a player because he was an absolute competitor and relentless in his pursuit of improvement and excellence.
But you don’t win things if only one guy operates like that so, having found a method that worked for him, Jane often applied it to team-mates. It’s where the whole idea of coaching began.
‘‘Maybe not many people liked me because I took the piss and always teased and had a lot of fun. But that’s what got me by, that’s what I enjoyed doing and made me feel comfortable in teams so I’m not going to change that.
‘‘But I do know there is a time and a place to be serious and a time and a place to have a laugh. Sometimes I get it wrong, but that’s life.’’
People in New Zealand love rugby and rugby players, but we’re still quite a reserved lot. There’s not what you’d call a celebrity culture and you need to tread a fine line when you have a personality and profile such as Jane’s.
‘‘And if you cross it, you’re just a dick,’’ he said.
It’s on the rugby paddock where he sounds most certain of himself. Once a brilliant attacking fullback, Jane evolved into a wing famed for his accuracy, attention to detail and ability to read play.
He wasn’t as big or a fast as many of the people he marked, so he had to be smarter. And the harder he looked at the game, the more he saw opposition teams offering up clues that could be exploited.
In concert with team-mates TJ Perenara and Brad Shields, Jane helped the Hurricanes develop the defensive screen which won them the 2016 Super title and created a new career path for himself.
This year it’s as a specialist coach for Wellington and who knows what’ll happen after that.
‘‘I want to be the best. I know I’ve got a lot to learn but, like my rugby, I back myself and all you need is an opportunity.
‘‘I want to nail a role. Head coaching is not something I see [happening] any time soon but, whether it’s [coaching] attack or defence, I just want to be the best at it.’’
Lowndes to retire
Holden veteran Craig Lowndes will retire from fulltime racing at the end of the 2018 Supercars season. The 44-year-old announced his decision yesterday at the Townsville 400, confirming this year would be his last in the championship. The six-time Bathurst champion claimed the 106th race win of his storied career in Tasmania earlier this year but said now was the time to walk away from fulltime racing. ‘‘This is the hardest decision that myself and my team have had to make,’’ Lowndes said. ‘‘It’s the right time.’’ As well as his six Bathurst crowns, Lowndes won Supercars championships in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
‘‘When I do the TV stuff, I just try to say it how it is. You get a few guys that don’t want to stir the pot and [go] ‘oh yeah, nah’. I just go ‘I don’t think this team is going to win’.’’ Cory Jane