Chiefs on hunt for new attack coach as Roger Randle lured by Clayton McMillan to Munster

Thursday, 16 April 2026

The Chiefs are on the hunt for a new attack coach for next season, with Roger Randle lured by former boss Clayton McMillan to take up the same role at Munster.

Randle, a former Chiefs rep himself, has been an assistant coach at the Hamilton-based franchise for the past nine years, but will finish up at the end of the Super Rugby Pacific campaign after signing a two-year deal with the Irish club.

The former All Blacks winger (two non-test matches in 2001), who played five games for the Hurricanes (1996-97) and 59 for the Chiefs (1998-2003, including 32 tries), has an extensive coaching resumé, from club, age-grade and sevens roles, as well as with Waikato in the NPC, the New Zealand Barbarians (against the British and Irish Lions in 2017), and the Māori All Blacks from 2018.

That was also the year he joined the Chiefs staff, beginning as an assistant backs coach, before shifting in 2020 to lead the attack, which he has continued to do so since, having late in the 2023 season re-signed through till 2026.

McMillan and Randle had shared a close working relationship in the five years the former was at the helm (2021-2025) and the latter’s name was one immediately linked to the Munster role when it was announced in February that their attack coach, Mike Prendergast, would be leaving his post after four years.

And Randle, 51, said the stars had now aligned to take the plunge. His youngest of five children is in his last year of high school, while he’s moving to a place with a family connection (his father is Irish and his grandmother’s family are from Tipperary), to work under the guidance of a man he has massive respect for.

“I’ve had similar opportunities over the last three or four years to give overseas a crack, but I just think it’s the right timing now, and with such a prestigious club like Munster, and being able to reconnect with Clayton, obviously is a pretty big drawcard,” he told the Waikato Times.

“The other part was the chance to really challenge myself, the opportunity to go out and coach a different competition, different players, different environment. It makes you pretty nervous, but that’s what helps you grow as a player and a person, so I think I’m ready for that.”

Jono Gibbes, who took over from McMillan at the Chiefs this season, praised Randle’s “work ethic”, “innovation” and “the lens with which he looks at the game”, and was taking it on the chin after the man he also worked under last year was able to come calling to poach his able assistant.

“It’s a great fit, obviously that partnership goes a long way back, and that’s the reality of professional coaching,” he said. “If you’ve got the right people working for you, there’s a good chance someone else is going to steal them.”

Randle said the biggest thing he’d miss about the Chiefs was the “human side”, with many of his coach-player relationships having morphed to more like “uncle-nephew” bonds.

A self-confessed “code-head”, he already watches most European games, so will continue to keep a close eye on proceedings up north, with some of the Munster players having already reached out to welcome him on-board, ahead of his linking up with them in a few months’ time.

Munster have so far endured a mixed time of it under McMillan, starting the season strong, but now in a scrap to secure a quarterfinals spot in the United Rugby Championship, sitting seventh through 14 of 18 rounds. They also exited the Champions Cup at the pool stage and lost in the round of 16 in the Challenge Cup.