Rugby: Boe may take Samoa on tour of Wales

By CHRIS RATTUE

John Boe's coaching assignment with Manu Samoa could extend to the end of the year to include a proposed tour to Wales and Scotland.

And it raises the prospect of Boe lining up in the international arena against Wales' coach, Graham Henry - with one man still having an All Black lifeline while the other is ruled ineligible.

The New Zealand Rugby Football Union announced last week that Boe, this country's under-19 coach, had been loaned to Manu Samoa for the Pacific Rim tournament in May, June and July.

But the Manu Samoa Rugby Union chairman, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, said he believed Boe's appointment was for a year.

Manu Samoa spokeswoman Michelle Boag said yesterday that an arrangement with the NZRFU meant there was a good chance that Boe could coach Manu Samoa on a five or six-match tour to Wales and Scotland around November, which would include two tests.

Under the NZRFU's loan deal, Boe's spell with Samoa does not contravene the so-called Henry clause, which prevents coaches of other national sides ever taking charge of the All Blacks.

But it now seems that Boe may be allowed to take a full tour to the Northern Hemisphere and retain his eligibility to coach the All Blacks. On the other hand, Henry has been ruled out of All Black contention by the NZRFU clause.

Boag said: "John Boe has been lent to us by the NZRFU full time for the three months of the Pacific Rim tournament.

"The arrangement we have with them extends to the end of the year. That means we can go back to them and ask to have him for the end-of-year tour.

"I don't think we'd have that arrangement unless they were going to seriously consider it."

Boag said Manu Samoa had decided to appoint Boe on a short-term deal because they rate him the best coach available to them and could not get him for a longer period.

Meanwhile, NZRFU spokesman Bill Wallace admitted that Henry may be looking at New Zealand with some confusion over the Boe developments.

Wallace said the "Henry rule" would not play a part in whether they let Boe coach Samoa again. The only concern would be Boe's workload, and whether he was wanted in New Zealand at the time.

"[Henry] may well have some questions about it. He may have a point."