The key issue for the NZRU is the All Black Coaching appointment. Steve Hansen will be back from Wales. Robbie Deans must be a contender. But the two big guns must surely be John Mitchell and Graham Henry. 

Mitch has done it his way. He's put the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe back in our trophy cabinet, has won well and often and has created a team with a future. Graham is an astute reader of the game, a brilliant analyst, close to the exciting Auckland core of the team, and has a great track record with Auckland, the Blues, Wales and the British Lions.

Several years ago when I was on the NZRU Board I tried to persuade Graham to be patient, that his turn would come and not to leave New Zealand. We were unable to firmly commit the AB job at the time so Graham had no real alternative but to go to Wales.

I then supported a ban on coaches overseas from coming back to the AB's. This was a temporary tactic introduced to protect our greatest assets (our coaches, therefore our future), but like all anti-free market policies it failed and it was rescinded. Quite rightly.
   

So an interesting couple of months ahead of us. Whoever is selected will I hope take us through to victory in the Stade de France in 2007 - whilst retaining the Tri-Series and the Bledisloe every year en route. Our goal should be to win every test. And to dominate up front again.

Post 2007 it'll be the turn of the new generation. Leading that charge will be the Azzurri's current coach John Kirwan. A good year in 2003, a solid Rugby World Cup and a defining year ahead as Italy searches for two wins in the Six Nations, and their first away win.

If JK can pull that off - with very limited resources - he'll add to his already growing reputation as an up and coming coach. I caught up with JK just prior to our disastrous Semi.
    

JK: Initially I was gutted obviously, because I don't have excuses or alibi in Italian. I don't have that in my life and I don't let the players have it. So my initial reaction was complete disappointment. It's actually a physical thing for me, I actually felt sick for two days. But after you get over the initial disappointment you start looking at the ways that you can move forward from where we left. 

The World Cup was a neat experience. It gave me a taste and now I just want to go back and finish the job off. So disappointment in not making the top eight. If we had have made the top eight, rugby would have been set up in Italy for the next 20 years. Disappointed for the players who I felt were the better side. But then World Cups are like that, supposed to be like that. Let's start thinking about the Six Nations.
   

JK: I don't like bullies and we got bullied a bit. We had to sign a thing saying we couldn't complain publicly. (The Georgian coach was fined £25,000 for complaining.) You can't turn around in three days and play because we have big, physical contact. So if we are going to keep growing this game I believe that the Samoans and the Italians have to make the top eight. 

You know it's no fun, there's no joy factor in the World Cup. It's too predictable. So we have to know that our World Cup is going to take six or eight weeks instead of four. 
It's just the way it is. We have to grow this global game. 
I mean there are three million people in Wales, there are 60 million in Italy. Where do you want to put your efforts?

KR: What would you have done differently if you had had an extra five or six days?

JK: I would have trained. We couldn't train. We played. We did some experiments on recovery and you actually get more out of the players if you train the next day because the fatigue and lactic acid hasn't really kicked in. It's two days later that they're really hammered. So we went out and we had a 30 minute walk on the Wednesday after we played Canada, Thursday off, team run on Friday and we played. New Zealand could play twice a week because they have got 30 players. Italy can't because we've only got 13 or 15 at the best of times. We lost two of our most important players. 

The players came off the field after the game and they were just completely shattered because they saw what we were trying to achieve but we just couldn't do it.
    

JK: It was by making the top eight. If we'd made the top eight I could get really rowdy. If I think there's issues then I'll take them to people. By not winning our voice gets a little bit stifled. But the reality is that Italy's just come into the Six Nations. Wales should have played Romania to stay in the Six Nations this year and if we're not good enough we should be playing a second tier Six Nations. 

The game needs to go global. Two tiers of Six Nations football. A Five-Nations instead of a Tri-Nations. Bring Argentina in and bring Japan in.
    

JK: I think it should be taken to five games because it's too easy for me as a coach to pick someone who's good and he plays one game and he's out of contention. 
We used to get a jersey for five games. I think when you've played five games for your nation, you've played for your country. One you've been lucky. Two, you need to prove yourself. Three, four, five you're starting to prove that you're good enough at that level. I believe that Andrew Blowers, Junior Tonu'u, those guys wanted to play for Samoa. They couldn't because they'd played four games for New Zealand and then decided to leave. So the problem is twofold. 

The IRB has an incredible responsibility, to find a tournament that the Island of Samoa can play in. So that you can actually get 30 selected Samoans that are available for the national team. And Andrew Blowers - 
I don't know if Northampton wanted him to go to the World Cup. Their competition starts. He's their top player. He's paid by them and he's not going to make any money in Samoa. So that takes him out. So they need to create a competition for these Island teams.
   

KR: And how long are you going to stay in Italy?

JK: It's all result driven. I'm really excited about the kids that I've got. I'm really excited about the talent of the players, but we need results. Italy wants results. I'm no different to John Mitchell. My job was put under question because we didn't make the top eight. The President said to me the other day, 'we had 65% possession, why didn't we win?'. 

And that's just the reality that we live in. I set goals that I think Italy should be aiming to win the Six Nations within five to eight years. So I'd like to stay there and see these guys develop. I'd like to coach them and see them get the results.

We don't need any more blow-outs. I want Italy to be the Coliseum. You come there, you die. And we don't have that yet. France have been coming and putting 40 on us. England have been coming and putting 40 on us. I want them coming to Rome and hating the experience. 

We want to create that Gladiator sort of atmosphere. We can't yet though, because it's all about self-belief and the hardest thing has been working on their self-belief. 
   

KR: This transition to coaching. I want to talk to you about coaches a little bit. And start parochially in New Zealand if you don't mind. What do you think the outlook is for our depth of coaching expertise? What are your intentions in terms of ever coming back to New Zealand and plying your trade here?

JK: There are not a lot of jobs in New Zealand. I think New Zealand is actually a reflection of the brain drain. Rugby is probably our top export. At the moment you've got Wayne Smith, Warren Gatland, you've got heaps of New Zealand coaches overseas. 

What is the future for New Zealand? The future is difficult here. If you have a young family like me it's very hard to consider coming back to New Zealand because it is as cut-throat as Europe and you don't earn the money. 
And there are only ten jobs.
    

JK: I admire Graham Henry. I think that he did a fantastic job for Wales. I think that some people are hanging their hat on the Lions thing, but I actually blame a lot of the players for it. I thought it was a game and a half and a game and a half. And unfortunately the Aussies won the second game and a half that gave them the results. John Mitchell I think, has done a good job. I think there are lots of good coaches out there.

KR: And of the overseas coaches. How do you think Hansen's going to be viewed?

JK: Well, I think he's turned a corner, beating us. And he reinforced that the other night against the All Blacks. I just really rate Clive Woodward. I've met him, sat around a table with him. When I first came on board with the Six Nations they invited me to a meeting. You have this impression of what Clive Woodward is like. 

He's just a fantastic man. He's really helped me. He loves the game. He cares about his players. He cares about the future of the game. He's done an incredible thing. He's actually changed the mentality of the English RFU. He's won 46 out of 50 games in the last four years and some people said to me "oh yeah, but he's not a coach, he's a manager". I think he's reset the standard and we don't like it. A lot of people down this part of the world don't like him. But I've only got praise for him. 

And Steve's done a good job for Wales. And Eddie O'Sullivan's a good man too. He's a very passionate Irish man. He's very competitive. He also helped me out after they beat us. I just bowled up and said 'what do you think?'. He gave me some really good pointers.
   

JK: I know Eddie. He came and spent a few days with us because I invite people over to observe what we're doing. I think Australia have set the standards. Why haven't we won a World Cup since '87? Because we went from leaders to followers. 

I think that when you win there are two ways that you can go. You can think that you're still leading but you're actually following. And you've got to keep evolving. I just think that maybe at this stage they've just kept the same systems. And the game's evolved in the last 18 months. It used to be very structured. And now I think it's enough structure to compete at the restart phases - scrum, line-out. Get enough rhythm into your game so that you can retain the ball and then it's about getting over the advantage line, beating guys one on one, having flair. 
   

JK: I think coaching is very much a learned thing and then there's an X factor. So I would personally like to be in the top 10 in the world. Always. I'm not good enough yet. 

When I was five years old I wanted to be an All Black. And when I started coaching, what is the best job in the world? If you want to be the best that you can be then I would be silly not to aspire to that. I would love to. 

I looked at the paper this morning and there was John Mitchell in a circle with the All Blacks and I thought wouldn't it be great to be there. Do I aspire to it? I don't know really. It's a dream. Now I am a coach and I have got the same drive and passion to be the best that I can be. Will  that bring me home and get me a chance? But she'd be a long queue.

  
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