Ex-ABs tough tour to NZ
Former All Blacks Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown may have glanced at each other with eyebrows raised as they discussed the rugged welcome planned for their homecoming tour of New Zealand.
The pair, now in charge of the Sunwolves, have to prepare the Japanese team to play the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday night, followed by the hard charging Hurricanes – who will be refreshed after the bye – in Wellington.
It’s difficult to think of a more daunting assignment for the winless Sunwolves, a side that splits home games between Tokyo and Singapore and travels more than any other team in Super Rugby.
Joseph and Brown, who coached the Highlanders to the Super Rugby title in 2015, have landed themselves a busy work portfolio since electing to shift north to Japan to coach the national team.
The original deal was broadened to enable the pair to also coach the Sunwolves.
Joseph, who travelled to Japan as the advance party following the 2016 Super Rugby season, was joined by Brown after he completed his duties as Highlanders head coach last year.
‘‘They are very well coached, with plenty of Kiwi knowledge there,’’ Crusaders flanker Matt Todd said.
‘‘They will know how to prepare for Kiwi teams – as they showed against the Blues (last weekend). They have got guys who skin you from anywhere, who can keep the ball alive and offload. So we can’t knock off at any stage.’’
If Todd had said anything different, he might have earned a slap from one of his coaches as a reminder of never to throw an opponent – no matter their calibre – a bone to chew on for motivation.
But the reality is everyone expects the Crusaders to stuff the Sunwolves into the blender.
Even when taking into account that Crusaders coach Scott Robertson may elect to run some of his second-stringers, Sunwolves have little hope of bowling the title holders at AMI Stadium.
Former Canterbury assistant coach Scott Hansen, who worked under Robertson and later Aaron Mauger at English premiership club Leicester, is the Sunwolves’ defence coach.
Ensuring the Crusaders players don’t expect their mates to do the heavy work, allowing themselves to pluck the low-hanging fruit and search for tries, will something for Robertson and his assistants to concentrate on.
‘‘There is clearly a Highlander influence there,’’ assistant forwards coach Jason Ryan said.
‘‘They are willing to play from anywhere and they like unstructured play. Scott Hansen has got a lot them bringing a lot of line-speed off the line defensively.’’
Given the surging injury count for the New Zealand teams, Todd provided some welcome news.
Having played with a fractured thumb over the last month, he revealed the bone had mended.
‘‘It’s as good as it’s going to be. It’s healed-up nicely. I got an X-ray on it the other day and the surgeon was happy with how it healed up.’’