Rugby: It's not just a job for John

John Plumtree is living the high life in Durban. Photo / Getty Images

John Plumtree will escape South Africa and return to New Zealand next year but has no plans to stay here permanently.

The former Wellington coach, who has been Sharks coach for the past two seasons, plans to get out of South Africa during the football World Cup.

"Any Kiwis wanting to stay at my house are more than welcome because I'm getting out," Plumtree jokes.

"It's going to be chaos. I'm not sure how the country is going to cope."

Plumtree has managed very nicely since moving to Durban in 2007. Controversially overlooked for the Hurricanes post in 2007 despite taking Wellington to three NPC finals in four years, Plumtree relocated to the Republic and has since won a Currie Cup (2008) and seen his Super 14 side set the early pace this year before fading.

Many view him as a future All Blacks coach and it's something Plumtree aspires to be long-term. He had a taste of it in 2002 when he was video analyst working under John Mitchell and Robbie Deans but later admitted the technological side of the game didn't suit him.

"I'm happy here in South Africa at the moment," the 44-year-old says. "I have a good team, my wife is South African and my kids are in good schools. Everything is good.

"I'm not in a hurry to get back to New Zealand [to coach]. I am contracted until the end of 2011 and we will see what happens after that.

"I see myself back in New Zealand at some stage but it's more a case of timing. I haven't got any ambitions to go back and wait for a job to comeup but I aspire to coach at the highest level."

Not only is Plumtree married to a South African, but he also won two Currie Cups with Natal as a player, played for the national sevens side and started his coaching career there in the mid-1990s.

"It makes people here accept me more because they know what the jersey means to me," he says. "It's not just a job for me."