{"id":472737,"date":"2026-02-11T11:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472737\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T11:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T11:34:08","slug":"favourite-jamie-joseph-on-the-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/472737\/","title":{"rendered":"Favourite Jamie Joseph on the rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Jamie Joseph has remained coy on his All Blacks ambitions ahead of the start of the Super Rugby Pacific season, which kicks off on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The Highlanders head coach has been heavily linked to the vacant position ever since Scott Robertson was unceremoniously sacked by New Zealand Rugby in mid-January.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/jamie-joseph\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Joseph<\/a> is the favourite to replace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/tag\/scott-robertson\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Robertson<\/a>, given that he meets the governing body\u2019s requirements and is also currently working in New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>Took charge of second-string side<\/p>\n<p>He also took charge of the second-string All Blacks XV in November, which suggests that NZ Rugby have been positioning the former Japan boss for a key role within the main set-up.<\/p>\n<p>Whether that is as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/team\/new-zealand\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">All Blacks<\/a> head coach will be seen relatively soon, but for now, Joseph only has eyes for the Crusaders clash on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The 56-year-old, who was inevitably asked about the national team job, admitted that the recent sacking was \u201ctotally unexpected\u201d, but refused to divulge too much else as the search for Robertson\u2019s successor continues.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, it was totally unexpected, and you\u2019ve got your head down thinking about your own team. For me, that is the Highlanders. That has been really my focus,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe publicity around the job has been surprisingly simple for the players. There hasn\u2019t been a lot said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is my first game in this season after a really tough season [last year], and I\u2019m really focused on the Highlanders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/eddie-jones-disappointed-by-how-nz-rugby-handled-scott-robertsons-sacking-and-leaking-details\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Eddie Jones \u2018disappointed\u2019 by how NZ Rugby \u2018handled\u2019 Scott Robertson\u2019s sacking and \u2018leaking\u2019 details<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Down to a three-man shortlist<\/p>\n<p>According to The Post, Joseph decided not to confirm whether he has applied for the role, but it is understood that he has indeed thrown his hat in the ring.<\/p>\n<p>Dave Rennie is another who is thought to have expressed an interest in becoming the next All Blacks head coach, and, according to Sir John Kirwan, they are on NZ Rugby\u2019s shortlist of three candidates.<\/p>\n<p>Kirwan did not know who the third one is but he did throw an interesting name out there.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had 13 applications, and it\u2019s down to three. Of the three, I think there\u2019s Jamie Joseph and Dave Rennie, but I don\u2019t know who the third is. It could be Warren Gatland, but I\u2019m pretty sure that they\u2019re making the decision in the next week or so,\u201d he said on the Rivals podcast.<\/p>\n<p>With Vern Cotter ruling himself out of the running by signing with the Queensland-based Reds and Joe Schmidt reportedly doing the same, it has narrowed NZ Rugby\u2019s search somewhat.<\/p>\n<p>It means that Joseph and Rennie are the clear frontrunners with a decision expected soon.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.planetrugby.com\/news\/the-scott-robertson-clause-which-should-have-scotland-on-high-alert-amid-gregor-townsend-doubts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Scott Robertson clause which should have Scotland on high alert amid Gregor Townsend doubts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jamie Joseph has remained coy on his All Blacks ambitions ahead of the start of the Super Rugby&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,215801,818,1182,219861,1736,44,760,85,29898],"class_list":["post-472737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-highlanders","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-jamie-joseph","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-super-rugby"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472737","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=472737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}