Former Moari All Blacks lock Joe Wheeler believes that New Zealand Rugby have conceded that the country doesn\u2019t have all the best coaches in the world anymore.<\/p>\n
This, after former Scotland scrum-half Mike Blair was unveiled as one of Dave Rennie\u2019s new All Blacks\u2019 assistant coaches on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Blair<\/a> has a glittering CV from his playing days and has quickly made a name for himself as a coach following his retirement in 2016. He was part of the Glasgow Warriors coaching team when Rennie<\/a> arrived in Scotland and stayed in the role until 2019, whilst also lending a hand to Gregor Townsend with the national team.<\/p>\n In 2021, he became Edinburgh\u2019s head coach, a role he held until 2023 before linking up with Rennie again in 2023 at Kobe in Japan. He now follows the head coach to New Zealand, becoming one of the rare examples of a foreign coach joining the All Blacks<\/a>\u2018 coaching staff despite never holding a role with a team in the country.<\/p>\n New Zealand Rugby\u2019s massive concession<\/p>\n Blair was unveiled along with All Blacks legend Tana Umaga and highly-regarded and experienced forwards coach Neil Barnes as the new additions to the coaching ticket, whilst Jason Ryan has been retained by Rennie and will now work under a third head coach with the national team.<\/p>\n Appearing on a special edition of Sky Sport NZ\u2019s The Breakdown<\/a> show, reacting to the new assistant coaches, Wheeler said that Blair\u2019s appointment is a compromise from NZR and an admission that there are better coaches than the ones in New Zealand.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a massive concession from New Zealand Rugby first and foremost that they are willing to select coaches from outside of New Zealand,\u201d the former Highlanders second rower said.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause we\u2019ve always prided ourselves on the fact that we do have the best coaches in the world. So for them to make a concession that shows that they\u2019re giving all the faith to Dave Rennie that he\u2019s got his man. Dave obviously rates this guy super highly.\u201d<\/p>\n All Blacks: Dave Rennie names assistant coaches as Tana Umaga headlines four-man group<\/a><\/p>\n The challenge for Mike Blair<\/p>\n Wheeler admits to not really knowing much about the former scrum-half but adds that he has heard good things about his work, and highlighted the challenges that await the Scotsman.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard a lot of good things, but I don\u2019t know too much about him. But I\u2019ve heard some good things, especially around how he breaks down northern hemisphere defensive systems in terms of the attacking system of the All Blacks,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I think the hard thing for him and the challenge he\u2019s going to face is how he\u2019s going to implant some of his ideology in such a short amount of time, and getting the players on the same page as what he is around, how he wants this All Black team to play in attack.\u201d<\/p>\n