Ex-All Black fears coaching distraction will derail World Cup campaign

Former All Black wing John Kirwan has expressed his doubt over this year’s World Cup campaign as the distraction of the All Blacks coaching job appointment grows larger.

Speaking on Sky Sport NZ’s The Breakdown, Kirwan called on everyone to get on the same ‘waka’ to avoid a failure in France.

If the players are distracted by who is the next head coach, the All Blacks wouldn’t win the Rugby World Cup he said.

“I’ve got five questions, I’m going to read them out,” Kirwan told The Breakdown panel.

“What’s the recommendation and who made it? Is it pre-World Cup or post? Who is picking the new coach? Just go and get Wayne Smith to do it.

“Is the decision they are going to make going to effect the players? And the players have already come out and said it is going to be a distraction.

“And if it is a distraction, can we win the World Cup? And my answer is no.”

Kirwan put the onus on incoming NZR board member Dame Patsy Reddy to make sure everyone is aligned with the same goal.

“The last one and the biggest one is, are we actually all on the same waka?” he said.

“I know Dame Patsy Reddy is coming in and one of her biggest jobs I believe is making sure that we are all on the same waka to win the World Cup.

“Because I just don’t feel we are at the moment.”

Sky Sport commentator Taylah Hodson-Tomokino said that the lack of transparency has ‘fueled the fire’ of media speculation which is currently engulfing all of the Super Rugby franchises ahead of the new season.

“The silence is defeaning to be fair, they are just so quiet on what is happening,” she said.

“There is the processes, what is the process? When are they going to make a decision. All of those questions haven’t been answered.

“Then you are just fueling the fire when it comes to the press. Every single press conference whether it is the Crusaders, Blues, Chiefs, Hurricanes, everyone is asking ‘who do you think is going to have the All Blacks job’.

“It’s distracting not only for the Crusaders, for Razor, for Fozzy. Give us an answer, what’s the process?”

Ex-All Black Jeff Wilson wanted the right conversations to be had between NZR and all of the coaching candidates who might come forward for the job.

“The most important thing here are the conversations that need to be had,” Wilson said.

“Between New Zealand Rugby, the board of NZR, Ian Foster, and the people who are going to be contenders going forward.

“There is no doubt that Razor is going to be one of those coaches.

“There’s already been talk of Jamie Joseph and Tony Brown. There is another player in the mix here, if he wanted the job, would we look at Joe Schmidt? You’ve still got Jason Ryan in the mix. There is so many conversations.”

Kirwan believed the risk of losing coaches to offshore jobs was low, therefore that we would not see any coaching changes before the World Cup but called on NZR to do whatever it took to keep Robertson in New Zealand.

“I would say this, we are not doing it pre-World Cup, but we will do it within a month afterwards,” Kirwan said.

“You’ve got great coaches like Razor Robertson, start treating the coaches like you do the players. Pay him enough to stay, so he can’t leave.

“That’s what we do to our top All Blacks. We don’t want to lose him.

“I think the argument of wanting to do it pre-World Cup came from the last World Cup, where the NZR felt like they lost some candidates.

“But there is only one job available at the moment that is sorta up in the air and that’s the Scotland job.

“So I don’t think the risk is out there to lose coaches to other nations.

“If I was Ian Foster I’d just come out and say ‘If I win the World Cup, I’d like to stand again’, wouldn’t you?”