Former All Blacks assistant John Plumtree has revealed he made a mistake taking the job offered to him by Ian Foster following the 2019 Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
The 61-year-old agreed to become New Zealand\u2019s forwards coach, but he was sacked from this role in 2022 following the home series defeat by Ireland. Plumtree was one of two assistant coaches sacrificed by Foster, who went on to lead the All Blacks to the final at the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Replaced by Jason Ryan, Plumtree returned to South Africa to take up his next opportunity, taking over at the Sharks for the second time. However, that position ended last December and he has now reflected on an eventful coaching career, including his short-lived time with Foster\u2019s All Blacks.<\/p>\n
Plumtree coached the New Zealand forwards in 24 Test matches, but a record of 16 wins, one draw and seven losses was deemed not good enough<\/a> after Andy Farrell\u2019s Ireland fought back from 0-1 down to win the 2022 series 2-1.<\/p>\n \u201cI hadn\u2019t done a lot of coaching in that space\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Still living in South Africa following his departure from the Sharks, Plumtree has now revisited his time with the All Blacks. Appearing on Coaching Culture with Ben Herring<\/a>, he revealed something he claimed not to have said to anyone before \u2013 that taking up Foster\u2019s offer to coach New Zealand\u2019s forwards was a mistake.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I went to the All Blacks, I was a head coach at the Hurricanes and I was coaching mainly the defence,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhen I went to the All Blacks, I was asked to do the forwards and I was probably just a little bit behind in my knowledge of the forward play.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t so much that (lack of knowledge), it was just that I hadn\u2019t done a lot of coaching in that space. The knowledge is there, but I just really hadn\u2019t done a lot of coaching.<\/p>\n \u201cThen covid hit and it made it a bit more difficult and it\u2019s really the first time I\u2019ve sort of told this story. The learning out of it for me was being the best that you can be for the team that you\u2019re coaching and where you feel the most value.\u201d<\/p>\n Scott Barrett takes inspiration from New Zealand cricket great after losing All Blacks captaincy and reveals Dave Rennie\u2019s \u2018old-school\u2019 punishment<\/a><\/p>\n Plumtree worked as Joe Schmidt\u2019s forwards coach during his first season in charge of Ireland, but an offer to assist the Super Rugby Hurricanes<\/a>\u00a0tempted him back to New Zealand where he had a different assistant role before eventually becoming their head coach.<\/p>\n \u201cChris Boyd wanted me to coach the defence, and I should have stayed as the defence coach because it was an area of the game that I was really starting to specialise my coaching in. In hindsight, maybe going into the All Blacks as a forwards coach might have been a mistake that I probably regret a little bit now. You\u2019re pretty much the first guy I\u2019ve ever said that to.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve coached the forwards before. I\u2019d coached the Sharks<\/a> forwards, coached the Irish forwards, but the reality was that I spent a lot of time coaching the defence. That was where all my thinking went into\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cBut let\u2019s face it, it\u2019s the national team, so I was keen to coach the All Blacks. I love the All Blacks<\/a>, I still love the All Blacks, but I just backed myself to do it, like you\u2019ll back yourself to play seven and you\u2019ll back yourself to play six, you back yourself to be a good jumper.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I don\u2019t regret anything as such; I loved my time with that team. The outcome didn\u2019t turn out the way I wanted it to, but hey, that\u2019s life. What can you do about it? It\u2019s done.<\/p>\n Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for world-class coverage you can trust.<\/p>\n \u201cBut there were learnings for me to take out of it, and there were also good learnings for me in terms of going forward around appointing my coaches and making sure that they are the best in their roles.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what the most noticeable difference was between coaching at Test level compared to club, Plumtree said: \u201cThe thing I noticed when I was coaching Ireland<\/a> was that you don\u2019t do a lot of coaching because you\u2019re actually doing a lot of selecting.<\/p>\n \u201cWe would be following the Irish teams. Joe (Schmidt) and I, and Les (Kiss) would be following the Irish teams, selecting the Irish teams for the Six Nations and then coaching in your working weeks with them, building up to a Test match.<\/p>\n \u201cYou get less time with the players, so you have got to be really, really good at what you do with that time, and that\u2019s probably the skill of coaching international rugby.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was one of the things, Joe and I were doing a lot of driving around Ireland together. We got to know each other pretty well. A lot of stories. A great storyteller. So yeah, I loved it with them, and the All Blacks was a different job.\u201d<\/p>\n