Crusaders in no rush to replace assistant coach
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson may be in charge of a reduced coaching staff for all of 2021.
Former Wales international Mark Jones, who assisted Robertson last year and also worked with Canterbury during the Mitre 10 Cup, has confirmed he won’t fulfil his two-year contract with both organisations after electing to remain in Britain and accept a role as senior assistant coach with English Premiership club Worcester Warriors.
Although the news was only made public yesterday,
Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge said he and Robertson knew before Christmas that
Jones and his family wouldn’t return to Christchurch.
While gaining access to a managed isolation facility and sorting visa issues meant Jones couldn’t rejoin the Crusaders until several weeks after Super Rugby began on February 26, Mansbridge said they also accepted he wouldn’t re-enter New Zealand because he wanted to remain close to wider family in his homeland. Jones, 41, had returned to Britain with his wife and two children after the Mitre 10 Cup. ‘‘We have known that Mark has been under quite a bit, sort of, of stress from being apart from his family and home for quite some period of time so we have been planning for it for a long period of time,’’ Mansbridge said. Mansbridge said the Crusaders were in no rush to replace Jones, and that Robertson had already constructed plans to split Jones’ defence and positionspecific player development portfolios between himself and assistants Jason Ryan, Scott Hansen and Andrew Goodman.
The Crusaders won’t be alone in starting the new season with a reduced coaching group; the Highlanders and Chiefs have also pared back their numbers, for various reasons, for the 2021 season.
Aaron Mauger and Mark Hammett, who left the Highlanders after last season, are ex-Crusaders assistant coaches but Mansbridge was noncommittal when asked about their chances of linking with his club.
Tabai Matson, another former Crusaders employee, has been let go by the Chiefs and has extensive experience as a defence coach but it’s uncertain what his plans for the future are.
Not having to pay Jones means the Crusaders would also reduce their wage bill.
This would be welcomed after Covid-19 caused such chaos during the 2020 season, resulting in the Crusaders posting a ‘‘modest loss’’ (to be revealed this month) but Mansbridge said it was imperative the franchise continued to invest in high performance areas such as coaching, medical and strength and conditioning personnel.