JOE SCHMIDT HAS confirmed that he will not be applying to succeed Steve Hansen as All Blacks head coach.
New Zealand Rugby bosses revealed on Wednesday that they have asked 26 New Zealanders to apply for the job, ruling out the possibility of a foreign coach for the All Blacks.
But chairman Brent Impey confirmed that former Ireland head coach Schmidt is not available for consideration as he is committed to his plan to take a break from the game for family reasons.
Impey said it was “a luxury” to have such coaching depth to call on after Steve Hansen stepped down at the end of the Rugby World Cup last weekend.
The new coaching team will be named before Christmas.
Among the candidates is Jamie Joseph, who guided Japan to a historic first World Cup quarter-final but has yet to commit his future to the Brave Blossoms.
Japan’s assistant coach Tony Brown revealed he would stay loyal to Joseph and had rejected approaches to join the coaching teams of two leading contenders, Ian Foster and Scott Robertson.
“I made a decision I’m going to stay with Jamie. If he applies for the All Blacks, I’m in. If he stays with Japan, I’m in,” Brown said.
Former Waikato Chiefs coach Dave Rennie, now with the Glasgow Warriors, said last week he had been asked to apply for the post.
Another prominent name believed to be in the mix is Warren Gatland, although the outgoing Wales coach has been told he could not be the All Blacks coach and also keep his contract as the 2021 British and Irish Lions coach.
Impey said the selection panel, which includes former World Cup-winning All Blacks coach Graham Henry, expected applicants to have their coaching support team ready when interviewed.
“Whether it’s your scrum coach, your backs coach, your defence coach, whatever it is, we want to see a team going forward,” he said.
“Those 26 candidates know what we’ve been saying so we’re expecting that in the applications.
“This is high performance. You’ve got to get the best, the very, very best. Our standards are very high. We believe our team has to be the best it possibly can.”
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