A new approach, but nod to Fijian past for Auckland Rugby

The winds of change are blowing through Auckland Rugby as the union strives to get back to better days.

The days when Auckland were the dominant province in New Zealand have long gone, with Canterbury alone being the supreme union. The decline of Auckland has been gradually happening since the days when Pat Lam was the head coach and Shane Howarth his assistant and they last won the provincial rugby title in 2007.

The union sunk to an all time low last year, where with Nick White at the helm they won just three games, were thrashed by North Harbour 57-10 and avoided relegation by just a point. current players to understand the province’s proud history.

“It’s starting from new in terms of having a new coaching crew and we’ve gone about building a new environment for our high performance athletes to succeed within,” Bear said.

The Auckland Blues won the first Super Rugby competition in 1996. They last won the Super Rugby title in 2013 beating Crusaders 21-7 in the final.

For their glorious past, Auckland had fielded top Fijian players like the great Rupeni Caucau, Joe Rokocoko, Isa Nacewa, Api Naevo, Vula Maimuri, Joeli Vidiri, Waisake Sotutu, Eroni Clarke and Walter Little.

Little, Clarke, Vidiri and Rokocoko went on to play for the All Blacks while the rest represented the Flying Fijians.

“But also it’s rewinding the clock and going back into our history, to what the crest means and what it means to wear the blue and white hoops. “Then making sure that all the people in environment understand how that’s relevant to them and make it important for them, so that they feel proud when they’re running out onto the field and want to put their best foot forward.” Just how Auckland lost their way so badly is something that a book could be written about, but a poor relationship with the equally disappointing Blues franchise, poor player identification and development and losing the popularity battle (along with the Blues) to the Warriors are all factors.

Bear shies away from going into detail on what had been going wrong, perhaps reticent because of the large number of negative articles written about rugby in Auckland over recent years. “Obviously we would have liked to have done better,” Bear says when asked if he was surprised about just how bad the 2017 Mitre 10 Cup season was. “There was an enormous amount of learnings that came through that season. “For us, it’s not so much looking in the rear vision mirror now. “It’s about moving forward and making sure we’ve learnt from our lessons and created an action plan, so that we’re set up for success in the future.

“With the Mitre 10 Cup, our preparation started after the final whistle of last year.

“We made sure we had a comprehensive review and understood the areas we needed to improve and change for us to be both successful in the short term and also sustainable in our high performance programme.

“With that, we’ve got a new coaching crew and we’re excited about the quality of that group.”

The return to Auckland of Henry is clearly the most eye catching of the new coaching team. The 72-year-old World Cup winning coach guided Auckland to four titles in a row between 1993 and 1996 and there would be few people who understand what it means to bring success to the province than him.

Henry will work on the defence and also act as a mentor to the other coaches.

“Ted (Henry) has got an affinity and passion for Auckland rugby and that in itself means he brings a lot of energy when he comes into the environment,” Bear said.

“The other skill set he brings is a wealth of experience.

“Also he has an ability to connect with all levels and within that is being able to bring out the best of the people he’s engaged with.”

It may be too early for Auckland to challenge Canterbury’s dominance this year, but it does appear that the union is getting back on track. The old saying that New Zealand rugby is strong when Auckland is strong has long since been proven to be the stuff of fantasy, but for the betterment of the sport in this country, a strong Auckland is important.