Former All Black Daryl Gibson is now helping to coach the coaches. Photo / Alex Burton
Former All Blacks midfield back Daryl Gibson is the man in charge of producing our finest elite coaches at High Performance Sport New Zealand.
After his playing career ended 15 years ago, Gibson stepped straight into rugby coaching. His assignments have included coaching the Waratahs where his stint involved a blaze of controversy around Israel Folau’s homophobic stance.
And Gibson will still have a big role at this year’s Rugby World Cup as a defence coach with rising Fiji, who shape as the tournament’s surprise package.
But the wider coaching world is now his playing field.
Six months into his new working life at HPSNZ, the 48-year-old Gibson looks at the national coaching scene, priorities and the future shock of artificial intelligence.
But we also managed to get him talking a lot about rugby.
In a nutshell, what is your job description?
We’re focused on the system that can influence an athlete’s performance, right across the 46 recognised sports of New Zealand. The focus is on podium sports though.
Medals in other words…
Correct. The ones we have consistently medalled in - rowing, cycling, with Lisa Carrington canoeing is a big sport for us now, the snow sports are doing particularly well in on the world stage, equestrian, cycling, the sports where we think we can convert.
Then we have the aspirational sports - speed climbing is one of the new ones. Rob Moore is our national coach for speed climbing, which will be a new sport in Paris. He’s just come back from Korea where one athlete qualified for the Olympics. We’ve also got some diving coaches doing very well.
What is the state of the coaching game in New Zealand?
We are finding a real appetite for coaching development and education after Covid. The courses are oversubscribed, with waiting lists. We’ve got 310 registered coaches going through the foundation level this year, learning coaching craft, body in motion, energy systems.
We’ve got a targeted programme producing more female coaches, specific courses just for females in the hope of really creating a far more balanced system. We’re getting close to hitting our target of 33 per cent of our national coaches. We also want more women in system roles, like influential board positions and high-performance directors. There is a need, to redress the imbalance.
Was it hard stepping away from being a rugby head coach?
No, not in terms of taking this role. And I’m still involved with Fiji as their defensive coach and looking forward to the World Cup this year.
Tier-two nations usually face challenges getting enough time with the players to make meaningful change. But we’ve got a really good lead into the World Cup with the Pacific Nations Cup then warm-up games against France and England. We’re looking at seven weeks of preparation time, which is ideal.
How has the Drua’s encouraging Super Rugby form helped the World Cup squad?
The players from the island can train professionally through the year which has really raised their standards and closed the gap on the international players, who typically come from European clubs and particularly France.
Roughly half the World Cup squad will come from the Drua and half from Europe.
Our challenge is to get our fitness levels to match the top nations. In the past, playing against them for 80 minutes has been a big problem.
We have world-class players in Europe, we have the talent, no doubt about it. We’ve got to make sure they are in the best possible condition.
With your high performance hat on - what about Ian Foster’s situation, preparing a World Cup team knowing he is already out of a job? What are the All Blacks’ chances?
I think he will see it as an opportunity - pretty much a free hit in terms of going out on a high.
We are all aware they are on the tough side of the draw, with the four top teams in the same half meaning two won’t get past the quarters.
The All Blacks will be very tough to beat. But teams like France and South Africa have big bodies, are very physical, with a particular style of rugby. It’s a difficult one.
Your era at the Crusaders produced a lot of top coaches including incoming All Blacks boss Scott Robertson - is there an explanation?
I’ve often reflected on why that is.
My feeling is that during that time, we usually only had two coaches - forwards and backs - unlike the big staff sizes you see today.
That put a lot of onus on the players to do more around preparation, to take an interest in tactics and strategy, picking up roles that would now be assigned to a coach.
These environments were fostered by our coaches - Wayne Smith, Robbie Deans and Steve Hansen - and it’s why a lot of us naturally shifted into coaching careers.
That legacy continues today. It has come about through their foresight and leadership - they were ahead of their time in terms of creating sustainable success.
Those foundations flowed through all of New Zealand’s teams because of their influence.
And Wayne Smith has been hauled back in by the All Blacks and Black Ferns…
Having someone of his experience guiding our national coaches is pretty special. It continues to add to that legacy - you can see what great coaching can do in terms of his impact on the Black Ferns. He certainly engaged the country and raised the profile of women’s rugby. It’s fantastic.
You’ve seen Australian rugby from the inside - is there a revival in store?
I see them being very strong at the World Cup - how many offshore players Eddie Jones can pick will determine how strong the squad can be.
They will be buoyed by their under-20s having just beaten New Zealand, for the first time since 2019. That proves the talent is there, given the right coaching and environment. They are really focused on that pathway, and competing with the NRL and AFL to keep the talent in rugby. They are managing to hang on to more players and that result was evidence it is bearing fruit.
Back to coaching the coaches - you had the Israel Folau homophobia controversy to deal with at the Waratahs. Is crisis management part of your HPSNZ curriculum?
Very much so. I’ve shared my experience through the Folau episode, what I learnt.
I was actually very proud of how I led through that period - bizarrely, I thought it was my best year of coaching through that.
Most coaches use a crisis as an opportunity to galvanise a team. That’s part of the skill.
The team was very united behind him the first time he tweeted. The second time - probably not as united. The work we’d done in terms of team foundations meant values were tested for a lot of people.
A few of us think that Super Rugby is in crisis…
There have actually been some strong attendances this year, people wanting to watch the top five or six teams.
But the Drua are a reminder of what Super Rugby was like when it was first introduced to New Zealand. They have a real sense of connection, of the players belonging to their team, and more widely across the community.
Somewhere along the line over the years, for whatever reason, that’s been eroded in Super Rugby.
And we do have challenges making the game exciting and competitive. The game has gone more predictable in attack, teams can hold the ball for long periods and often retain it under penalty advantage. The game has become very structured.
I’d like to see tweaks that make the ball more contestable, and teams encouraged to play with more risk.
The topic of artificial intelligence is all the rage - how will it influence top sports coaching?
Unknown for now but it is something we are having discussions about, as part of redesigning the high performance strategy for the next 10 years.
I can see AI being a big part of that future. I suspect it will handle large amounts of data and produce reports and direction from that.
I’ve read a few articles about English Premier League teams investigating it - perhaps it will contribute to real-time decision-making.
Should we be excited or worried about it?
It’s a bit too early to know if it is going to be a good thing or not. We are in the process of writing that plan - clearly AI is evolving.
Did you have a childhood hero?
Buck Shelford. He was a role model, the All Blacks captain. I enjoyed watching a number of players from that era, including John Schuster and Inga Tuigamala. I’ve had quite a bit to do with Buck - you still get star-struck when you see your heroes. And I think I lined up against Inga in my first test, right at the end of his career. You think ‘wow’.
Most feared opponent?
Tana Umaga - for his skills, speed and size in our era. The players are a lot bigger now, but back then he was ahead of his time physically. A player I enjoyed playing with was Norm Berryman. He was 110kg, probably didn’t fit the mould of a rugby player in the modern sense, but boy he had some skills and loved the game.
You went down the academic route in setting up a life after rugby…
It was really drummed into us by Wayne Smith. He’d say, ‘Listen boys, rugby won’t last forever. Make sure you’ve got a trade or something. It will only last for a little period’. Smithy always wanted us not to be thinking about rugby 24/7, to have really good balance.
Do you dream of being a head rugby coach again?
Absolutely. The fire still burns for me. But I’m lucky to be in a role now where I can continue that coaching passion, just in a different sense.
OPINION: Sam Cane's career was marked by courage and resilience.