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Gibbes joins Hurricanes coaching set-up

Wellington Lions coach Chris Gibbes. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

Widely respected coach Chris Gibbes has joined the Hurricanes on a two-year deal as an assistant coach.

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Gibbes, 46, will leave his role as head coach of the Wellington Lions at the end of the Mitre 10 Cup season to join the Hurricanes coaching ranks where he will take over from the departed Richard Watt.

“We are delighted to have someone of Chris’ calibre join our coaching team,” Hurricanes general manager of rugby Ben Castle said.

“Gibbo brings a wealth of experience and expertise from a range of teams and competitions from around the world that will really strengthen the Hurricanes.”

A former Waikato head coach, who led the side to two ITM Cup finals, as well as Ranfurly Shield success, Gibbes has also had international roles with Japan and Georgia, New Zealand Under 20s and Pro 14 side Ospreys for four years before he returned to take up the Wellington job in 2017.

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“For me, it’s a fantastic opportunity to be involved in coaching at Super Rugby level, something I’ve always wanted to do,” Gibbes said.

“I’ve obviously got a very important job still to do with the Wellington Lions and I want to concentrate all my efforts on that before I think ahead.”

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Hurricanes head coach John Plumtree believed Gibbes would excel in the role as forwards coach with a pack that was continually being strengthened.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Gibbo and we know where we want to improve and I think he’s the right person to be able to bring that,” he said.

Wellington Rugby chief executive Matt Evans thanked Gibbes for his dedicated work with the Lions and his commitment over the last three seasons.

“He won a Mitre 10 Cup Championship and promoted the Lions to the Premiership and that was not easy. While we wish him all the best with the job at the Hurricanes we know he will be working as hard as ever to see the Lions achieve their 2019 goals.”

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– Hurricanes Rugby

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Flankly 2 hours 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?

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