Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Colin Cooper steps down as Chiefs head coach

Colin Cooper has decided to leave the Chiefs a year early (Photo by Hagen Hopkins / Getty Images )

Chiefs boss Colin Cooper will step down from the Super Rugby club this year, with his next priority to spend time with his family.

ADVERTISEMENT

Cooper, who has coached the Chiefs for the past two seasons, opted not to see out the last of a three-year term and sought an early release. Club CEO Michael Collins said he and Cooper had been in discussions for several weeks, which meant the Chiefs could begin their recruitment process discreetly without interrupting the 2019 campaign.

“We are grateful to Colin for his outstanding leadership and coaching at the Chiefs. He is a proud man who set an incredibly high bar in terms of personal standards and behaviour, both on and off the field. We are really proud of the culture he has fostered inside our club and team environment. He can be proud of what he has achieved.

New Zealand Rugby CEO Steve Tew acknowledged Cooper’s commitment and contribution. “Coolin is a remarkable individual with great presence and mana. We know him to have a special talent in communicating with young men and working to bring the best out of those in his charge and to help grow outstanding individuals on and off the field.

“We appreciate that he will have some decisions to make and while he will have choices in front of him, we hope his special abilities won’t be lost to New Zealand rugby. Next year is a post-World Cup year when there is a lot of player movement within Super Rugby and clubs are beginning the next four-year cycle.

“Taking that into consideration, both Colin and the club have spoken at length over several weeks and agree that the time is right for a new coach to take the Chiefs into 2020 and beyond. Being an ultimate professional and team man, Colin’s early decision was not made lightly by either him or the club, but it has allowed us some space to recruit and plan for a smooth and successful transition.

ADVERTISEMENT

Under Cooper, the Chiefs reached the Super Rugby quarter-finals of the 2018 and 2019. Cooper said he was proud to have been part of the Chiefs, leading a “great group of young men”.

“I believe the team and the club are bigger than the individual and the club comes first. With next year the start of a new World Cup cycle, I believe it is the right time to step aside. There is a good crew of players and staff here who are committed to carrying the club forward,” he said.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzDHOCvgWVT/

“Developing young players and coaches for the future of New Zealand rugby is something I’m very passionate about, and I’m proud and grateful to have been a part of that with the Chiefs. The Chiefs are well supported by fans and sponsors, and I would like to thank them for making me feel welcome and at home in Hamilton.”

Cooper has been coaching rugby professionally for more than 20 years. He took on the role of Chiefs head coach after eight successful seasons leading the Taranaki Mitre 10 Cup team, during which time he also coached the Maori All Blacks for five years. Previously he was the head coach of the Hurricanes for eight years.

ADVERTISEMENT

He said he would now take a break to consider his future. “The role of the head coach has evolved so much over the past five or six years. My passion is ‘hands-on’ on-the-field coaching, but with bigger playing numbers and more staff involved these days, I’m getting taken further and further away from my passion. I will take some time out with my family and discuss our future.”

Chiefs co-captain Sam Cane said Cooper had been a great mentor. “Colin has a huge amount of mana and respect from the team. A number of us have played under his leadership for several years, some for even longer.

“He has been a great coach and mentor during his time at the Chiefs. His knowledge and experience have been hugely beneficial. He has been instrumental in developing some of our talented younger guys. He will be missed. We wish him all the best in his next venture.”

WATCH: Colin Cooper and CEO Michael Collins front up to the media after the head coach decided to step down from his role  

Video Spacer
ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

F
Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline? Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?
Search