Delaney shakes off critics
‘‘Like all players who aspire to keep moving forward in their career, I think coaches are no different.’’
Glenn Delaney
Glenn Delaney has been called numerous things since opting to leave Canterbury for an assistant coaching gig at the Highlanders.
Walking away from his headcoaching job one-year into a threeyear deal will do that, particularly in a world where keyboard warriors often run amok on various online forums.
There has been plenty of that. And there were the folk at AMI Stadium, enraged by Canterbury’s 55-43 Ranfurly Shield loss to Taranaki last month, who insisted on yelling out ‘‘traitor’’ as Delaney made his way down from the coaching box and through the stand.
‘‘I know that out there in the public people might want to have an opinion or cast a view on what they think the situation is, but the only thing that was ever important to me was Canterbury rugby during the course of the Mitre 10 Cup,’’ Delaney said.
‘‘Everyone’s entitled to their opinion. That’s part of life.’’
Having guided the red and blacks to their ninth provincial title in 10 years two weekends ago, Delaney is spending a couple of weeks with his family in the United Kingdom, before moving to Dunedin to start his job as Highlanders defence coach at the end of November.
He’s using the break between campaigns to refresh, and told
the opportunity to coach at the next level, and with head coach Aaron Mauger and assistant Mark Hammett, was too good not to give a shot.
‘‘This is the job I do, and at the end of the day opportunities present themselves when they do,’’ Delaney said. ‘‘You don’t necessarily go hard out seeking for ultimate change. I was very happy doing what I was doing and that opportunity presented itself.
‘‘It was the next step on the rung up. The way New Zealand Rugby works, we have the Mitre 10 Cup, which is a great competition . . . and then Super Rugby fits in above that. Like all players who aspire to keep moving forward in their career, I think coaches are no different.’’
Delaney, who will be joined by his wife and four children – Alex, Hannah, Josh and Charlotte – once they finish school in the UK, admitted he ‘‘agonised’’ over his decision for about a month.
Once he’d signed with the Dunedin-based franchise and informed Canterbury chief executive Nathan Godfrey, he informed the players in September he would be one and done with the provincial side.
‘‘We only ever spoke about it in one meeting. We spoke to the players and said this has happened and this is what’s going to happen going forward. The players were great, they were appreciative that we told them first,’’ Delaney said.
Originally from South Canterbury, Delaney has spent little time in Dunedin, but has been picking Canterbury captain Highlanders No 8 Whitelock’s brain.
Giving up the top job of the provincial powerhouse for an assistants job with the Highlanders might not stack up for some, but the former Nottingham forwards coach and director of rugby, who has also coached London Irish and worked as their rugby operations manager, insists there is more to coaching than simply being a head coach.
Linking up with Mauger, who he coached with at Nottingham, and Hammett, who he’s known most of his life, was at the forefront of his decision.
‘‘What I looked at was firstly, who are the people that I’m going to work with? And they’re people I know and trust. That’s actually the most important factor for me. The job title is not a major driver.’’
He will take the ‘‘blitzing’’ type defence he installed at Canterbury this season to the Highlanders, who have lost former defence coach Scott McLeod to the All Blacks.
‘‘Part of the attraction is there is a lot of similarities as to how they defend and how I’ve defended and how we asked Canterbury to defend this year. It does evolve all the time,’’ Delaney said. ‘‘We’ve had a lot of success in that area this year with Canterbury.’’ and Luke