Victor Matfield issues Jamie Joseph warning amid All Blacks speculation and player power concerns
Jamie Joseph while in charge of Japan and Springboks legend Victor Matfield.
Victor Matfield has sounded a warning over Jamie Joseph after claiming that his Japan stint did not end on the best terms.
The 56-year-old is the favourite to land the vacant All Blacks head coach’s position after Scott Robertson departed from the role last week.
Joseph is currently in charge of the Highlanders and also guided the second-string All Blacks XV on their tour to the northern hemisphere in November last year.
Before that, he led Japan between 2016 and 2023 and took them to a landmark quarter-final at their home tournament in 2019.
His tenure ended following an underwhelming performance at the 2023 World Cup but, despite that group stage elimination, Joseph has plenty of supporters in New Zealand.
All Blacks legend’s support for Joseph
Sir John Kirwan is one of those, and the former wing would be happy with either him or Joe Schmidt in the All Blacks hotseat.
“I really think it’s down to Jamie Joseph and possibly Joe Schmidt, although I don’t know what Joe Schmidt’s contractual obligations are to Australia,” Kirwan told the Rivals podcast.
“I really like Jamie, I think Jamie is a really top coach. What he’s done is be able to actually take sides that are the underdogs and have incredible success.
“Let’s not say: ‘Ah, he went and coached Japan’, what he did with Japan was amazing. Making the play-offs of the World Cup was amazing.
“If we think about a coaching team, we know that Tony Brown is one of the best attack coaches in the world and he is a Kiwi. I love that combination.
“I think Jamie could do it without Browny if Browny wants to stay in South Africa, so for me it’s between Jamie Joseph and Joe Schmidt.
“It would be really cool if they could both do it. I would love to see Jamie as a head coach and Joe come on as one of his assistants.”
Matfield, who was the Springboks’ record cap holder before being overtaken by Eben Etzebeth, then gave his view on the possible All Blacks options.
The 48-year-old has worked with a number of the Japanese players that featured under Joseph, having joined Eddie Jones’ coaching staff as an advisor and he gave an insight into the end of that tenure.
“One thing I must say is from the Japanese players, they weren’t too happy with Jamie Joseph at the end. Why that is, it sounded like he was very strict and very set in his ways,” he said.
“But he understands the New Zealand culture. He played, he looks like a rugby man so it will be interesting.”
Tony Brown links
Discussion then moved onto Springboks attack guru Brown and whether he would reunite with Joseph, but Matfield issued a hands-off warning.
“The one thing I can tell you is you won’t have Tony Brown,” he said. “Maybe after the World Cup, you can pull him over but Tony will stay with the Boks until the World Cup.”
Kirwan remains hopeful that New Zealand Rugby and SA Rugby could come to some sort of agreement should Brown want to return home.
“We only have 10 jobs in New Zealand really, 20 at the most if you think about the assistant, so if you’ve coached Super Rugby, if you’ve won a Super Rugby title, where do you go? You either go to the All Blacks or you go overseas,” he said.
“I think the combination of Jamie and Browny is a real good one. You know you’re getting a couple that have worked together, they know each other.
“I’ve heard that they can go to confrontation and not take it personally.”
However, Matfield insists that Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus will hold firm should NZR seek to buy him out of his contract.
“It’s all nice but there’s no way contractually they will let him go, there’s no chance Rassie will do that. Even though they may say everything, that’s a business decision. You can’t have someone before a World Cup join your greatest rivals, there’s no chance,” he added.
READ MORE: Tony Brown breaks silence on All Blacks links as Springboks coach reveals key contract detail
