Chiefs still working on 2021 coach
New Chiefs coach Warren Gatland has opted for continuity in the team’s coaching ranks, but who fills in for him in 2021 remains a mystery.
Following the Rugby World Cup bronze playoff defeat to the All Blacks in Japan, Gatland has one more fixture to oversee, ironically against his former Wales side, when they face the Barbarians in Cardiff on December 1 (NZ time) – but has spent a few days this week at Chiefs HQ in Hamilton ahead of his official December 3 start, and yesterday the club announced the rest of his staff for the upcoming season.
All five of the team’s incumbent assistants – Neil Barnes, Tabai Matson, Roger Randle, Nick White and Andrew Strawbridge – have been retained, albeit in altered roles, with the one new face being that of David Hill – the former Chiefs and one-test All Blacks first-five.
Gatland was announced as the Chiefs’ new coach in June, just a day after Colin Cooper left with a year remaining on his contract, on a four-year deal through to 2023 which includes a sabbatical to coach the British and Irish Lions to South Africa in 2021.
But just who takes the reins in his absence in his second season is still unclear, with Chiefs chief executive Michael Collins opting not to delve into what those plans are when speaking to media yesterday.
‘‘We’re just focused on 2020 at this point in time,’’ Collins said. ‘‘We’re well advanced in our planning around 2021 but we’re not in a position to comment on that at this stage.
‘‘My thinking is that the interim head coach appointment is going to be a process jointly run by the Chiefs and New Zealand Rugby. And from our perspective, we want Warren to play a part in that process.
‘‘And as everyone’s aware, he’s been pretty full-on with Wales at the Rugby World Cup, so we’re giving ourselves a bit of time and space to make those decisions moving forward.’’
Collins declined to comment on whether he had a preference that one of the assistants take the head coach role for 2021, while when asked if he had an idea on when that announcement might be made, he said: ‘‘I’m just still working through the process, I’ve got a timeline in my head but I don’t think there’s any benefit in me coming out and making that public at the moment.’’
Collins also opted not to declare when each of the assistant coaches were signed on until.
What he did say, was that despite Gatland being busy at the World Cup, he indeed had been ‘‘highly engaged’’ and had ‘‘full input’’ into the makeup of the coaching staff, and their roles, and had not requested to bring in any of his staff from Wales.
While the assistants remain on board, their portfolios for the coming season have been tweaked.
‘‘We obviously did a comprehensive review [of 2019], and spoke with the coaches, and spoke with players, and what we’re finding at the moment is that the Super Rugby players are becoming younger and younger so the amount of coaching we need to do has probably increased,’’ Collins said.
White wasn’t able to commit to the same amount of hours for next season, so instead of overseeing the entire forwards, he will now focus solely on the scrum.
Barnes then reverts to being forwards coach, after a year on defence. Matson moves from attack to defence – an area Collins said Matson was ‘‘real passionate about’’, which then sees Randle move from an assistant backs coach to oversee the attack.
Waikato Mitre 10 Cup coach Strawbridge will continue as a resource coach, but with his focus shifting more from team skills to individual skill development of players.
Hill then joins the ranks, having been an assistant with Bay of Plenty for three seasons, then this year being an assistant with the New Zealand Under-20s for their world championship campaign and also a kicking consultant with the All Blacks at the World Cup.
Collins said Hill’s role would be around that kicking element, and mentoring the squad’s young first-fives.
The Chiefs’ squad (along with the other New Zealand franchises), is named next Tuesday, with the players’ first day at work being November 28, ahead of the season-opener against the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland on January 31.