It may only be January but Northampton have pulled off what is sure to be one of the coups of the year with the signing of Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd.
The Saints sacked Jim Mallinder in December and Boyd will take the reins from interim coach Alan Gaffney when his Super Rugby obligations wrap up in early August.
It’s a major coup for Northampton but it’s another blow to New Zealand Rugby that is seeing the trickle of talent heading overseas turning into a flood.
The Kiwis have, by some margin, the best players and coaches on the planet but when you start to see current All Blacks such as Lima Sopoaga, Charlie Faumuina, Steven Luatua, Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Victor Vito leave in their prime and rugby brains like Wayne Smith, Jamie Joseph, Joe Schmidt and now Boyd depart for colder climes – it has to have some effect.
It used to be the lure of just playing or coaching for the All Blacks would be enough to keep all New Zealanders happily ensconced in the land of the long white cloud waiting for the legendary day when they would get the call.
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But not anymore. The lure of substantial northern coin is beginning to outweigh those national honours and the famous black jersey is being passed up for jerseys of a different hue.
The issue for the players and coaches is the All Blacks have a very stable line-up – on and off the field – and if there is one, two or even three in the line before you it’s hard to see yourself forcing your way through the door.
Take Kerr-Barlow. In any other country in the world, except possibly Ireland and England, he would be the first choice scrumhalf, but in New Zealand he is third behind the exceptional Aaron Smith who keeps the brilliant TJ Perenara on the bench. Kerr-Barlow may squeak a spot on the tour bus but that’s all.
Same for Boyd. In any other country his achievements, chief amongst them leading the Hurricanes to their maiden Super Rugby crown in 2016 (at the 21st attempt!), would be enough to see him handed the national coaching job – but not in NZ where Steve Hansen, 2015 RWC winner, is there for the foreseeable future, after which he’ll hand over to his 2IC Ian Foster.
Lima Sopoaga will be plying his trade in England with Wasps
Succession planning is well in place and Boyd, as superb as he has been with the Hurricanes, is not in that picture.
Boyd may be “passionate” about the Hurricanes but when he’s being offered triple the money and the opportunity to move on to an international coaching role in a few years – the decision is not too hard to swap the Cake Tin for Franklin Gardens.
It was interesting that NZRU General Manager Rugby Neil Sorensen was trotted out to give the move the official blessing rather than CEO Steve Tew.
If Tew isn’t concerned about a departure or opposing appointment he’ll happily mouth the platitudes – as he did when Raelene Castle was named as the new boss of Rugby Australia – but surely the master administrator must be starting to worry about the plane loads of rugby personnel heading out of Auckland.
Of course Tew will never let on that he is concerned. He’ll instead happily point to the NZ Under 20 side that won the World Championship in Georgia last year with a record 64-17 thrashing of England in the final. That side was captained by another future All Black, flanker Luke Jacobson, and coached by another (unknown) tactician Craig Philpott, who will be hoping for a Super Rugby gig in a few years.
So Tew indeed may still be pretty relaxed – and if asked about the most recent departures may well answer: “Let them go, there’s plenty more where they came from.” But at some point – the well has to run dry. The rest of the rugby world awaits that (mythical) day.
