Mains man: Joseph or Rennie
‘‘AN experienced freshness’’ is what former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains would like to see when Steve Hansen’s successor is selected.
Mains, who guided the national side from 1992-1995, feels the competition for the top job has never been hotter, but that the argument for continuity is over-rated.
New Zealand Rugby is set to announce its new coach before Christmas. It invited 26 to apply, though there is a clear top four in Ian Foster, Scott Robertson, Jamie Joseph and Dave Rennie.
Foster’s eight-year reign as an assistant means a familiarity with the environment, but a World Cup slip-up has put that idea on shaky ground.
And Mains, whose tenure came in similar circumstances, following the 1991 World Cup semifinal defeat, feels change could be valuable.
‘‘The continuity’s not so important, I believe, in the coaching,’’ he told Stuff. ‘‘Personally, I think an experienced freshness would be really good for the All Blacks.
‘‘Players have a lot more say in how they play over the last 10 years than we’ve ever seen before . . . and there’s a hell of a group of experienced players who are still going to be coming through and give that continuity automatically.
‘‘And no coach is going to come in there and not listen to his senior players.’’ talking about Jamie Joseph and Dave Rennie
And that new man, in Mains’ eyes, would be Joseph or Rennie.
‘‘I would have either of them coaching any rugby team that I was responsible for,’’ he said, unable to find any negatives attached to the duo. ‘‘While I think it’s very important that our coach has a proven track record, how he got to that record is also very important.
‘‘Is he a coach that always had the best players in whatever competition he was in and had the best team, and life was made easy for him? Or is he a coach that has coached under adversity
with not such a strong team but has managed to get them up to win championships?
‘‘Both Jamie Joseph and Dave Rennie have done that, bringing underdog teams up to win Super Rugby competitions. And both have gone on since leaving their franchises to prove their ability in other areas.’’
It’s in contrast to Robertson, who has had success wherever he has turned, with generally well-stacked sides, and therefore hasn’t shown any rags-to-riches type abilities.
‘‘If he becomes the All Black coach we are going to be very well served, I’m not suggesting that he’s not ready for it,’’ Mains said.
‘‘[But] there’s a couple of things I would be asking. Has he had to work in adversity and bring a team that’s not quite so good, up?
‘‘The other thing is, he’s young [45], and he’s got plenty of time on his side.
‘‘Scott Robertson will definitely be an All Blacks coach at some stage of his career, if his performance continues the way it has gone over the last four or five years.’’
The irony is that next year’s Super Rugby season is going to be the time when Robertson will have the chance to show his rebuilding wares, with the Crusaders losing a host of experienced campaigners.
And it could offer the chance for what Mains describes as ‘‘remedial coaching’’ – ‘‘fixing weaknesses that are inherent in your team because of a lack of natural ability’’.
‘‘That’s very important for a coach, to be able to bring the weak links in his team up to the level of the strong links.’’
Joseph, who Mains coached at Otago, did that in his Highlanders stint (2010-2016). Without the same cattle as other sides, Mains was impressed with not only a maiden title but how players suddenly shot to national selection.
It was a team that knew how they were meant to play and were given the maximum opportunity to showcase their talents, just like Joseph’s subsequent work with Japan, highlighted by this year’s historic World Cup quarterfinal appearance.
It was similar with Rennie, who worked with Mains at the New Zealand Rugby Academy and struck him as ‘‘a very intelligent rugby tactician who understands the game’’, before taking a struggling Chiefs team to immediate, and repeated, glory.
Whether Rennie is actually in the running is still up in the air, having been strongly linked to the Wallabies job.
But whoever does end up getting the ultimate Christmas present, Mains is certain it will have been from the strongest pool of contestants ever.
‘‘If you look back in the past, it’s never ever really been more than a two-horse race. There’s a few more horses in the race now. And a few of them have been well trained in the school of hard knocks.’’
‘‘I would have either of them coaching any rugby team that I was responsible for.’’ Laurie Main, right.