All Blacks coach to leave after 2019

WELLINGTON: All Blacks coach Steve Hansen’s decision to stay on with the team until after the 2019 World Cup in Japan has now thrown up another question in the rugby-mad country. Who is going to replace him?

New Zealand Rugby said on Monday that Hansen, whose existing contract expired at the end of next year, had re-signed with the organisation until after the 2019 World Cup, the first to be held in Asia.

“At the end of the day he’s the best coach in world rugby,” NZR chief executive Steve Tew told reporters in Wellington. “It was one of the easiest recommendations to the board.”

The decision has also made NZR’s longterm planning much easier, with Hansen’s replacement no longer needing to be appointed less than two years out from their defence of the Webb Ellis trophy.

That planning has been important for the All Blacks’ success in recent years after independent reviews found the loss of institutional knowledge and inconsistency in coaches’ tenures had hampered previous World Cup campaigns.

That was not lost on Tew, who said Hansen’s decision would also go some way to influencing players’ thinking ahead of the 2019 World Cup. So far only seven players have signed contracts with the organisation until then.

“The reality is that we have the opportunity through until 2020 to do a really good job on some succession planning,” Tew said.

Several names have been mentioned as potential successors to Hansen, with current All Blacks assistant Ian Foster a possibility, along with twice Super Rugby winning coach Dave Rennie.

Rennie, whose contract with the Waikato Chiefs expires at the end of next year, has already said his preference would be to head overseas before possibly having a tilt at the national job.

Former All Blacks hooker Warren Gatland, whose contract with Wales expires at the end of 2019, has also been suggested, along with Vern Cotter (Scotland) and Joe Schmidt (Ireland), who could potentially work together having previously coached Bay of Plenty in New Zealand and at Clermont in France. Reuters