Next All Blacks coach: Why New Zealand Rugby’s Dave Rennie v Jamie Joseph decision is weeks away

Expectations for an imminent appointment of the next All Blacks coach should be shelved as New Zealand Rugby continues its due diligence behind the scenes.

A decision on whether Dave Rennie or Jamie Joseph will replace Scott Robertson is expected to be at least three weeks away as members of the New Zealand Rugby (NZR) appointment panel spend time assessing the respective contenders’ coaching environments.

Speculation has included other potential candidates for the vacant All Blacks head coaching post but with Joe Schmidt and Vern Cotter ruling themselves out, Rennie and Joseph are locked in a head-to-head battle for the position.

In a bid to assess Rennie and Joseph’s coaching environments, interim NZR chief executive Steve Lancaster and former All Blacks hooker Dane Coles visited the Highlanders last week in Dunedin before their round-one Super Rugby Pacific upset victory against the Crusaders.

Lancaster and Coles attended coaching meetings, observed Highlanders training and will report back to their fellow members of the appointment panel, who include All Blacks centurion Keven Mealamu, NZR chair David Kirk and high-performance expert Don Tricker.

Next week, Lancaster and Coles are expected to travel to Japan to visit Rennie and spend time observing his Kobe Steelers environment.

All Blacks Ardie Savea and Anton Lienert-Brown, and test centurion Brodie Retallick, are among Rennie’s Kobe squad and could be asked for their insights into his coaching.

Savea and Lienert-Brown played under previous All Blacks coaches, Robertson, Sir Steve Hansen and Ian Foster, while Retallick made his mark under the latter two.

As the New Zealand rugby public wait with bated breath for a decision on the next All Blacks coach, the rumour mill is in overdrive.

Everyone has their theories, their supposed inside sources.

Last week, the Highlanders’ victory against the Crusaders was supposed to have sealed Joseph’s promotion.

The reality, though, is that a decision remains some way off and at this stage it is believed to be a 50/50 proposition.

While it is out of sight for most New Zealand rugby fans, who largely view Super Rugby in isolation, Rennie’s Kobe defeated Todd Blackadder’s Toshiba Brave Lupus featuring Richie Mo’unga in Japan Rugby League One last weekend.

In his four years with Kobe, Rennie has propelled the team from the bottom third of competition to sit third this season, marking the club as genuine title contenders in his final campaign at the helm.

This season’s rise continues Rennie’s track record of success with Wellington, Manawatū, the New Zealand Under-20s, the Chiefs and Glasgow.

It’s also worth noting that while Robertson won five straight Super Rugby titles with the Crusaders (seven including the two Covid-era, New Zealand-only championships), that success did not translate to the All Blacks and the test arena, which is clearly a completely different beast from a style, pressure and expectation perspective.

With Lancaster and Coles travelling to Japan next week, and the appointment panel then needing further time to convene, an official announcement on the next All Blacks coach is unlikely to land before mid-March.

Once Lancaster and Coles return home, Joseph and Rennie, who is expected to travel to New Zealand for an in-person interview, will present their respective cases to the full NZR appointment panel, which is expected to take place in the first week of March.

Liam Napier is a Senior Sports Journalist and Rugby Correspondent for the New Zealand Herald. He is a co-host of the Rugby Direct podcast.