{"id":403618,"date":"2026-01-10T06:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/403618\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T06:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T06:25:09","slug":"jason-hollands-all-blacks-exit-remains-a-head-scratcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/403618\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Holland’s All Blacks exit remains a head-scratcher"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s not like the All Blacks<\/a> don\u2019t sack coaches.<\/p>\n

We only have to look back to assistants John Plumtree and Brad Mooar getting the boot after the All Blacks\u2019 disastrous home series loss to Ireland<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about Jason Holland in recent weeks. Not least because, at face value, he preferred to be an assistant coach at the Hurricanes<\/a> rather than the All Blacks.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s for family reasons.<\/p>\n

Yes, perhaps there\u2019s a chance Holland is that rare breed of rugby coach who does leave one job and immediately land another because he wants to spend more time with his wife and kids.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s among the issues here. We\u2019re left to speculate about why a man would seek such a demotion.<\/p>\n

Holland, as we all know, was once the Hurricanes\u2019 head coach. Before his time, it must be said, after Plumtree left to join Ian Foster\u2019s All Blacks staff.<\/p>\n

That whole situation still has me scratching my head. Chris Boyd, who\u2019d secured the Hurricanes their only Super Rugby title, was effectively replaced on the staff by Carlos Spencer<\/a> so Plumtree could ascend from assistant to head coach.<\/p>\n

Plumtree then ups sticks, and Holland is suddenly elevated to a job he\u2019s probably not prepared for.<\/p>\n

Still, the head coaching cache and a long personal and coaching relationship with Scott Robertson<\/a> were sufficient to see him named as an All Blacks assistant.<\/p>\n

In October last year, it was announced \u2014 but never adequately explained \u2014 that he wouldn\u2019t seek a contract extension with the All Blacks. In December, it was confirmed he\u2019d be an assistant at the Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve thought about it a lot since, and honestly can\u2019t fathom this whole chain of events. All I can presume, because no one in authority has said otherwise, is that Holland simply didn\u2019t want to be involved with the All Blacks anymore.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll see. Maybe post the full review of the team\u2019s 2025 campaign, which is due to be completed this month, there\u2019ll be more clarity.<\/p>\n

Holland either will or won\u2019t be replaced in the coaching line-up, which will tell its own story.<\/p>\n

Better still would be someone confirming whether he was surplus to requirements or not.<\/p>\n

Because if Holland simply left, as Leon MacDonald<\/a> did before him, then I\u2019ll start to worry about this All Blacks side.<\/p>\n

I try not to blame coaches for performances. I\u2019ll question the selections they make, and I have often been critical of the fact that players seem to get worse in the current All Blacks environment rather than better.<\/p>\n

But games are played by players. It\u2019s them who make the decisions and they who have to execute the skills.<\/p>\n

Where I have the most issues is that repeat offenders \u2014 players with persistent failures and failings in their r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and skillset \u2014 still get picked more often than not.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t see a lot of evidence that Robertson and his coaching team know what they\u2019re doing, but I still think we\u2019re soft on the blokes wearing the black jersey.<\/p>\n

Again, maybe life on the road didn\u2019t suit Holland and his family situation. Maybe the glare of the national spotlight was also too great, and he longed for the anonymity of being a franchise assistant.<\/p>\n

Given no one\u2019s explained why he left the All Blacks and how the Hurricanes looked so appealing in comparison, we\u2019re all left wondering.<\/p>\n

When words don\u2019t fill the vacuum, all that\u2019s left are the actions of a man who appears to have gladly taken a huge professional step backwards.<\/p>\n

From that, you can only conclude that Holland really didn\u2019t like being part of Robertson\u2019s coaching team or got fed up dealing with the players. Perhaps it was a bit of both.<\/p>\n

Either way, it\u2019s hardly a ringing endorsement for the All Blacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not like the All Blacks don\u2019t sack coaches. We only have to look back to assistants John…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-403618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}