Ex-All Blacks star backs ‘old school’ coach over Dave Rennie to replace Scott Robertson
Highlanders head coach Jamie Joseph and ex-All Blacks fly-half Lima Sopoaga (inset).
Lima Sopoaga believes Jamie Joseph has the right credentials to take over the All Blacks’ coaching reins despite having an “old school” approach to the game.
Sopoaga is an experienced fly-half, who has represented New Zealand and Samoa at Test level, and was coached by Joseph when he started out his senior career at Wellington in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC) in 2010.
He also worked under Joseph during a seven-year stint at the Highlanders and was their first-choice number 10 when they were crowned Super Rugby Pacific champions in 2015.
However, things were not always so rosy with former All Blacks back-row Joseph in charge at the Highlanders and Sopoaga recalls how his coach drilled him and some other up-and-coming backline players during his early days at the Dunedin-based outfit.
This, after they were too casual in their approach during a pre-season game against the Blues which ended with the men from Auckland cruising to a comfortable victory.
Sopoaga revealed that Joseph came down hard on the entire team during a Monday video review session.
“We get torn to shreds,” the 35-year-old told Nine’s Wide World of Sports.
Joseph was far from finished though as he called out Sopoaga and his fellow young backline team-mates Aaron Smith, Buxton Popoali’i and Telusa Veainu for not taking the pre-season clash with the Blues seriously.
The quartet were then put through a heavy contact session at training on the Tuesday.
“We had to defend live mauls. Live mauls against the whole forward pack, bro,” recalled Sopoaga. “He was being dead serious. He then told the forwards ‘If you guys don’t go hard, then you guys will do extras.’
“So they’re absolutely pumping us little dudes, to teach us a lesson for being idiots. ‘Oh it’s only pre-season, who cares, we’re only 20-years-old.’
‘Imagine how well that went’
“This went on for 15 minutes. Imagine how well that went.”
Sopoaga revealed that what he experienced during that training session left him devastated.
“It was honestly one of the worst days of my life,” he said. “I’ll never ever forget, after he blew the whistle, I walked away and I just kept on walking. The field was massive.
“I walked for a kilometre down the road and I had tears in my eyes. I was so gutted. I was so upset. It was intense.”
Despite those old school tactics, Joseph has grown as a coach and apart from guiding the Highlanders to the 2015 Super Rugby title, he also coached Japan from 2016 to 2023 before returning to his beloved Highlanders in 2024.
He also coached the All Blacks XV during their triumphant end-of-year tour in 2025 and is seen as being the favourite to replace Scott Robertson as New Zealand head coach in what is viewed as being a a two-horse race with former Chiefs, Wallabies and Glasgow Warriors boss Dave Rennie.
Sopoaga has never been coached by Rennie and although he has heard good things about him, he feels Joseph is the right man for the All Blacks job.
“Jamie Jo will always be old school, but he’s evolved,” revealed Sopoaga.
“Deep down, he is who he is which is a very strong character. His teams have always been built on hard work, grit, determination, and he’s been able to bring the best out of players with less talent. He’s been able to max them out.
“The Highlanders and then Japan, they weren’t the most talented teams in the world. So, imagine him with the All Blacks, with so many gifted players.
“South Africa are top dogs but the All Blacks are still rock stars. We have amazing players. We just need the right coaching group to facilitate that talent.
“To guide it and bring out the best of them. I’ve got no doubt that Jamie could do that job.”
Although the All Blacks coaching position brings lots of pressure with it, Sopoaga feels Joseph has the right attitude to deal with that.
“The All Blacks job, that’s a pretty hot seat,” he said.
“You’ve got to find someone who’s pretty strong-willed and who can handle that furnace. If you had to pick someone who was ready to jump in a fire – that’s Jamie.
‘He’s evolved, he’s changed his ways’
“No.1 is man management and how he can bring a group together. That’s a pretty unique and special gift to have as a coach. He’s evolved, he’s changed his ways – somewhat – from when he was making us do crazy sh*t.
“I was so impressed with what he did with Japan at the 2019 World Cup. Beating Scotland and Ireland and making the quarter-finals with that team – that’s legit.”
If Joseph is appointed as the All Blacks new head coach, he will have to do the job without his long-time assistant Tony Brown, who is committed to the Springboks as their attack coach until the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
Sopoaga only has good things to say about the Joseph/Brown coaching combination and is dreaming of the day they are reunited.
“I’m biased – those two coaches changed my career and changed my life, helped us win the title and so many special memories,” he added.
“Those two men for me are like Shaq and Kobe, Batman and Robin. If he is to get the job, I’m sure Jamie being Jamie, he’s got a couple of tricks up his sleeve.
“If he can’t get Tony, he’ll have someone else. He’ll have A, B, C, D, E, and F all in the back of his mind.”
READ MORE: Jamie Joseph addresses All Blacks question after ‘totally unexpected’ Scott Robertson sacking