Scotty Donaldson looks at who will be the Blues coach in 2013. Who do you think will coach the Blues?
Four candidates are set to be interviewed for the Blues coaching job for the Super Rugby 2013.
The Blues which covers the wider Auckland area of New Zealand has the biggest catchment population in the best rugby country in the world, yet the Blues have been disappointing in 2012. Interviews take place within the next week.
Who are you picking to get the job?
Sir John Kirwan - The recently honoured John Kirwan was a star All Blacks winger and try scoring machine, appearing in 63 test matches. He has had coaching stints with the Blues in 2001 as assistant coach, followed up by stints in Italy from 2002-2005 and Japan 2007-2011. He has done a decent job in his coaching career so far without getting spectacular results. JK has respect after his public work done for depression. It would be a weird situation for Blues players being referred to as a "sir". John Kirwan is from Auckland and hopefully this means he can get the best out of this Auckland based team.
Kieran Crowley - The former All Blacks and Taranaki player was a reliable fullback during the 1980s and early 1990s. He coached a good Taranaki side with some success from 1998-2007. He has been coaching Canada since 2008 and they secured some positive results in the Rugby World Cup 2011. I wonder how a Taranaki man would go with an Auckland side, remember Jed Rowlands who struggled to get respect with the Blues?
Pat Lam - Should Pat Lam be retained in some capacity? I think it could be time to wipe the slate clean, although the Blues have been finishing strong under their current coach after a terrible early to middle part of the season. Lam could be retained as an assistant coach as there are some great young up and coming Pacific Island players that he could inspire. I wonder if he will be back in 2013?
John Plumtree - Plumtree is another former Taranaki player like Kieran Crowley, but he has been earning his stripes coaching firstly in Swansea, then Wellington, before going to South Africa where is wife is from and coaching the Sharks. It would be weird going from coaching the Sharks to coaching the Blues straight away. It is weird because he has been named as a potential candidate despite having one year left on his Sharks contract. I think it would be tough to get him coaching the Blues.
There are some other options which would have sparked some great debate, but either didn't apply or weren't wanted. How would controversial coaches like former Springboks coach Peter de Villiers or former All Blacks and Lions coach John Mitchell fare at the Blues? What about another former Springboks coach in Nick Mallett?
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