Long night for delighted manager, says proud dad

Jim and Ngaire Shand, of Hastings, the proud parents of All Blacks manager Darren Shand. Photo / Warren Buckland

After the final whistle blew and the All Black players embraced each other in joy having retained the Rugby World Cup, Jim and Ngaire Shand got the phone out and sent off a quick text. To their son Darren - the team manager.

Within a couple of minutes the proud Hastings couple had a reply which was simple and sincere. It was effectively "thankyou mum and dad".

"Oh he's a happy chappy - I think it's going to be a long night," Mr Shand said as he and his wife's nerves returned to normal. "I always have nerves when I watch games like this."

They were pleased their daughter Maria Clarke, who works in sporting legal circles for the IOC, was able to make it to the match. Asked if he would have loved to have been there, Mr Shand laughed and said there were "a few thousand reasons" they could not.

It had been tough to watch when the Australians forged a stirring early second-half comeback and they thought of what would have been going through their son's mind. But Darren has been there before - this was his third Rugby World Cup since taking on the management role in 2004, so he had experienced the highs and the lows notably the loss in the 2007 quarter-final against France.

"When Australia started coming back I had a few doubts but the whole All Blacks team have a great team ethos and go through so much planning with so much detail, and that's what wins through."

He said his son had always worked hard for the cause.

"The job suits him because right from when he was a kid he has been a perfectionist," Mr Shand said. "I thought I was organised and dotted the 'i's' and crossed the 't's' pretty well but he leaves me for dead."

As a youngster Darren Shand shone brightly on the sporting fields of Hawke's Bay.

While attending Parkvale School his bedroom walls were covered with pictures of his sporting heroes and he would go on to play Ross Shield rugby as well as top level hockey.

Now 49, he was in his early 30s when he took on a sponsorship management role with the Canterbury Rugby Union and spent four years with the Crusaders.

His skills were obvious and, when it came time for the national body to seek a manager for the All Blacks, Darren Shand got the nod - from former star players Andy Haden and Andy Dalton.

"The All Blacks built up a good core of leaders and it has continued to build from there," Jim Shand said. "He just gets in and does the job - makes sure everything that needs to be done is done."

The Shands were not sure when their lad was heading back to his Christchurch home, where he lives with wife Jan and two daughters.

"But we'll catch up at Christmas and we'll hear all about it then," Mr Shand said.

In terms of the players, Mr Shand said he had been awed by the career of skipper Richie McCaw, and the way he again battled from the front in the final.

"I saw my first All Blacks test in 1956 and this man is the best - boy has he got a big strong motor."