Where to now for Super coaches?
Chat to a Super Rugby chief executive or chairman and he may drop the ‘‘360-degree review’’ catchphrase into the conversation.
It’s a way of saying that no fact or opinion should be ignored as the club shines a lamp into every corner of the organisation to find solutions and iron out imperfections.
The magnifying glasses usually come out at the season’s end, although there’s plenty of due diligence done during it too. If necessary the brooms are also lifted from their bins, and loyal employees may find themselves out of a job.
The abrupt end of Super Rugby now leaves the clubs’ management teams with time to kill. A clear calendar means bringing forward those tasks, unpleasant or otherwise, that must be done.
With Super Rugby suspended after seven rounds because of coronavirus here’s a look at the status of the five New Zealand coaches.
Head coach: Leon MacDonald. Contract: Through to the 2021 season.
Chances of the board moving him on? Zero. Unless those board members have dabbled in the Northland buds to get some insights ahead of the cannabis referendum.
Before he replaced Tana Umaga ahead of the 2019 season, MacDonald was presented with – and accepted – a three-year deal. Following a mediocre first year in charge he has reenergised the Blues’ attack, and more importantly, added some wildfire to the defence. Then the pandemic forced the competition to a halt.
There’s no way he can be sacked.
MacDonald is too valuable to this outfit after guiding them to five wins in seven games, and they sit fourth overall on the competition table.
The question, now, is whether the board will have the bottle to extended his deal with the addition of a few plump cherries in the fine print. If MacDonald wants them, it would be surprising if assistants Tana Umaga, Tom Coventry, Daniel Halangahu and Ben Afeaki don’t want to stick around.
Head coach: Warren Gatland. Contract: Through to the 2023 season. Clayton McMillan will be interim coach next year when Gatland takes charge of the British and Irish Lions in South Africa.
Chances of the board moving Gatland on? Remote. Not unless he decides he wants out. Four wins from six games is more than satisfactory.
The mix of assistants for 2020 will be intriguing. Chief executive Michael Collins has said McMillan had previously formed a working relationship with David Hill and Roger Randle, which suggests they will return.
Collins refused to say whether Neil Barnes, Tabai Matson, Andrew Strawbridge and Nick White are contracted beyond this year.
You can read anything you like into that.
It could mean there’s potential for a clean-out, or that Collins doesn’t believe the fans or media deserve any insight into the club’s future plans.
For now, it’s a waiting game.
Head coach: Jason Holland. Contract: Understood to be at the end of 2021 season.
Chances of the board moving him on? Low. Given Holland was pitched into the job as a replacement for John Plumtree, following his appointment as All Blacks’ forwards coach, he deserves to be given time.
Holland has done a decent job, too. Four wins from six games is a fine start.
Chris Gibbes, Carlos Spencer, Dan Cron and new defence coach Cory Jane, who signed a twoyear deal ahead of this season, will probably want to remain in Wellington – if their boss is up for that.
Head coach: Scott Robertson Contract: Through to the end of the 2021 season.
Chances of the board moving him on? Zilch. Unless they want a horde of irate fans demanding their skulls in a deep basket, the club’s hierarchy wouldn’t dare touch a hair on the popular coach’s head.
Instead they should ask whether he wants to extend his stay. You can guarantee they won’t be the only ones chasing Robertson’s signature, though. With three Super Rugby titles and a five and one record this season, he will be able to assess his options.
That includes having another crack at the All Blacks job, if he’s prepared to be patient.
Should NZ Rugby automatically roll over Ian Foster’s contract after the 2021 season, Robertson may have to wait until 2023 for another dig at the plum job.
It’s a question if he wants to take that risk or go overseas?
Assistants Jason Ryan, Scott Hansen, Andrew Goodman and Mark Jones are expected to go along for the ride, as long as it lasts.
Head coach: Aaron Mauger Contract: Expires at the end of this season.
Chances of the board moving him on? 50-50 – possibly greater.
Of the five coaches, Mauger is the biggest winner from the decision to can Super Rugby. He is also at the greatest risk of being moved on.
Unlike MacDonald, who has wrenched the Blues out of the swamp, Mauger could coax only one win out of the Highlanders before Sanzaar shut the competition’s doors.
Now in his third year in charge, having got the team as far as the quarterfinals in the previous two seasons, Mauger has had to work with a squad stacked with modest talent in 2020.
The fans will have been very disappointed with the Highlanders’ results. So, too, will the Highlanders board.
Strong governance calls for bold decisions. Do they have the stomach for change? If the board re-appoints Mauger it will be because they trust his methods and believe he has installed the systems that bring the club back to the glory days of 2015.
Or they could make the position contestable.
Two assistants, Tony Brown and Clark Dermody, are contracted beyond this season.
Mark Hammett, who has been at the club since 2017, is in the final year of his deal and has previously worked as head coach of the Hurricanes and Cardiff Blues.
Skills coach Riki Flutey joined the club on a one-year deal before the season began.
Would any want to volunteer for a salvage job? If it doesn’t appeal to them, or anyone else, Mauger could win his job back by default.
Beached for at least the next month, Lewis Clareburt bought a PlayStation, took delivery of a rowing machine and weights, and settled in for lockdown with five housemates including his parents.
New Zealand’s main swimming medal prospect at the Tokyo Olympics had his last plunge into the water at Wellington’s Kilbirnie Pool on Tuesday, before the Games postponement was confirmed then the country shut its doors amid the coronavirus pandemic.
‘‘It’s quite nice being out of the pool for a bit. You train so much . . . but I think I’ll start to go crazy soon,’’ Clareburt told Stuff as he contemplated the delay of his first Olympics until a lateApril to August window in 2021.
He turns 21 in July, so time is certainly on Clareburt’s side. That’s why the disappointment of not being at Tokyo Aquatics Centre for the 400m individual medley heats on July 25, the scheduled opening day of competition, became excitement at the gains he could make for next year.
‘‘I’m still growing and I don’t think I’ve hit my peak and there’s still a lot of development to go. So this buys me another year and the chance to get faster and get myself on the podium.’’
Clareburt’s Irish coach, Gary Hollywood, has always maintained 2024 would be his charge’s peak year.
Still, Clareburt already has a world championships bronze medal from last August, the same colour he won as an 18-year-old at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and was excited about carving through the water at next week’s national trials, since postponed.
His 400m IM swim of 4min 12.07sec in South Korea eight months ago lopped more than 2sec off his personal best and national record, and qualified him for Tokyo where a time of well under 4:10 will be required to be a medal hope.
‘‘I’ve been swimming super quick [recently] which sort of sucks,’’ Clareburt said.
The next month will be the longest period he spends out of the water until the Olympics, and the novelty of dry land will soon wear off.
But the delay could be a sign, too. If the rescheduled Olympics are held before July next year, Clareburt will be 21, the same age Danyon Loader was when he won double gold at Atlanta in 1996 – still New Zealand’s most recent Olympic swimming medal.
Clareburt first shot to prominence in 2017 when he equalled Loader’s longstanding age-group 200m freestyle record. Less than a year later he won Commonwealth Games bronze as an 18-year-old before the swim of his life in Gwangju.
‘‘The bigger the stage, the better he swims,’’ says coach Hollywood of his charge. And this unprecedented delay has bought this fast mover even more time to make a big splash at his first Olympics.