Overlooked pair put brave face on future

CRAIG SIMCOX/The Dominion Post

COACH: Jamie Joseph could be named as the new Highlanders coach as early as next week.

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Jamie Joseph and Peter Russell will forge ahead with their provincial coaching careers for now, but admit they were disappointed and frustrated at missing out on the Hurricanes job.

Crusaders assistant coach Mark Hammett was chosen ahead of Joseph and Russell last month, despite the latter pair having head coaching experience, with Wellington and Hawke's Bay respectively.

Joseph said yesterday he was not going to walk away from the Lions when his contract with Wellington rugby runs out at the end of the month.

"The situation as it stands right now is that I will probably be involved with Wellington rugby for the next few seasons, but we're just negotiating now," he said.

Joseph, who was appointed New Zealand Maori coach this week, is tipped to sign a new contract with Wellington in coming days.

He was aware of the reasons he had missed out on the Hurricanes job, but was not planning to drastically change his coaching style.

"I think anybody who gets involved at this level of rugby clearly wants to go higher. After going through the Hurricanes process obviously there's a bit of work to do in where I need to be," he said.

"But I'm happy with the way I coach and quite content with what I've achieved. It obviously wasn't enough to go to the next level, so I'll keep doing my time."

Joseph, who angered Wellington's All Blacks when he did not play them during the NPC, admitted he had been frustrated last season, but did not foresee any problems with player availability in future.

"It's a volatile business in the sense that sometimes you can control things with regards to preparing your team and picking your players, but sometimes you can't, because the contracting of players and the goals of other teams get in the way. That's what I call frustrating.

"But I didn't get into rugby with my eyes closed and those are the cards you get dealt. If you don't like it, you have a decision to make."

Russell is signed up for two more seasons with Hawke's Bay, but admits he is unsure of his coaching future after he comes off contract as the Highlanders' assistant coach at the end of the current Super 14.

Russell said he was disappointed the Hurricanes had gone for a coach outside the franchise boundaries and had passed up those with more head coaching experience than Hammett.

"We have done a lot at Hawke's Bay to promote guys to higher honours and it's been a lot of hard graft to do that," he said.

"Overall I thought it was a very good [interview] process, but a bit rushed."

Russell will meet the New Zealand Rugby Union next week to discuss his future.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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