Robbie Deans’ emphatic All Blacks verdict as he tips ‘great rugby man’ Sam Whitelock to be a ‘career coach’

Robbie Deans admits that he has no interest in the All Blacks job anymore, but tips Sam Whitelock to have a bright coaching career. An experienced and hugely successful coach, Deans worked as an assistant coach to John Mitchell between 2001 and 2003 before taking on the Wallabies job in 2008. That came after his hugely successful stint as the Crusaders’ head coach, with the club winning five titles under his tutelage.

International ambitions

Before joining the Wallabies, Deans had applied for the All Blacks job but was overlooked for the role, with New Zealand Rugby preferring Ian Foster instead. He would go onto coach the Wallabies until 2013, resigning from the position following the Test Series defeat to the British and Irish Lions. Following his resignation, he joined Japanese club the Wild Knights but indicated that he still wanted to coach the All Blacks one day. However, that opportunity has never arisen with the former Crusaders boss leading the Knights to five Japan Rugby League One titles instead. While he hasn’t been a head coach of a Test team since his time with the Wallabies, Deans has had a taste of international rugby after coaching the Barbarians on several occasions in recent years. Speaking ahead of the Baa-Baas match against the Springboks in Cape Town, the veteran coach was asked whether he still dreams of coaching the All Blacks and his answer was emphatic. “No, no, I’m good thanks,” the 65-year-old said with a smile. “I’ve been very lucky as a coach, I’ve had two franchises, two nations and met some great people.” NZ Rugby chief highlights major issue for hosting another World Cup in New Zealand echoing South African stance

Coach Sam Whitelock

For the clash against the Boks, he has recruited the help of former All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock, who takes his first official step into coaching. The most capped New Zealand rugby player retired from professional rugby last year after turning down the opportunity to return to the All Blacks’ fold, with Scott Robertson eager to add him to his playing squad. The former lock is held in high regard for his knowledge of the game, particularly when it comes to the lineout, and while this is his first official coaching gig, Deans believes that Whitelock will become a great coach in the coming years. “He is great, we go back a long way, his last game was last year against Fiji, and fortunately I asked him to play, captain and be the lineout coach then… but he is a great thinker, he is a great rugby man,” Deans said. “He lives and breathes the game, and he will be a coach. You will see a lot more of him. “Domestically, he is very busy, he is back on the farm and he is developing, which is taking a lot of his time, but at some point he will go from part-time to a career coach, I suspect. Just knowing how often he thinks about the game.”

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Coaching the Barbarians and in Japan

Deans also spoke of the challenge of coaching the Baa-Baas and how it has impacted his process in his day job with the Wild Knights. “The Barbarians, for me, captures everything that is good about rugby, it’s an international game, the cultures and different approaches. The Baa-Baas is the ultimate challenge, you get a group of blokes and put in a whole campaign into one week,” he said. “When I first experienced this challenge, I appreciated what it was offering me when I went back to my day job to think about, well, what really is important because you don’t have any time to waste in a Baa-Baas context. We’ve only had one full training, essentially, so you got hitting the right points, not wasting words and most importantly, catering to the players.” He added that he is enjoying his time in Japan after expecting to be in the country for a couple of years, but has stayed in his role there for over a decade now. “I’m still there and the reason for that is we [him and his family] are enjoying it,” he explained. “Penny [his wife] and I have enjoyed it, our family have enjoyed and they are worried I’m going to stop. “I always thought I’d end up at France to be fair but we go there for a break and we just decided that it’s better just to go there for a break and vacation there, enjoy it that way rather than turn it into a place of work where we may it may kill our enthusiasm. “Still going, the rugby is great there and the Springboks appreciate that, we’ve got Damian de Allende and Lood de Jager.” READ MORE: Springboks: Rassie Erasmus forced into a late change as Jesse Kriel captains South Africa against the Barbarians