Cron to rejoin All Blacks as forwards coach

Canterbury's Mike Cron has been wooed back to the All Blacks management team as a forwards coach.

Cron, who worked under former coach Graham Henry as a scrum specialist, has been approached by new boss Steve Hansen to return under the new title.

This is despite Cron announcing his retirement after New Zealand won the World Cup last year.

Cron's return could mean no room exists in the new set-up for Mick Byrne as a full-time employee.

Byrne, who worked part-time with the All Blacks as a specialist skills coach under Henry, signalled he was keen to join Hansen as his assistant but was overlooked when Ian Foster and Aussie McLean were appointed instead. Their roles will be as backs and defence coaches respectively.

Following their appointment it was still believed Byrne would join the coaching set-up in some capacity, but if he does it may be part-time.

Byrne, who has juggled his roles with the All Blacks and the Japan national side, is understood to be in Australia, but was unable to be contacted for comment.

Cron's return means Hansen has now surrounded himself with a number of the management team he worked with when he assisted Henry for eight seasons.

While Henry and former assistant Wayne Smith have departed, manager Darren Shand, doctor Deb Robinson and Cron have confirmed their allegiance.

A popular member of the previous management regime, Cron's career revival is likely to be greeted with enthusiasm by skipper Richie McCaw and his senior players.

A resource coach with the New Zealand Rugby Union since 2004, Cron is still expected to receive assistance from Hansen at trainings.

"I still have to complete the negotiations and that sort of thing, but Shag asked me and I said `yes' a couple of days ago," Cron confirmed yesterday. "Even with the All Blacks in the past, Shag and I have done the lineouts together and he helped me out with the scrums," he said.

"We all work together – you just have a title, you know. To work with more than the set-piece on a full-time basis will be good."

Cron will continue to help age-group national teams at a high-performance level. Earlier this month, he returned from 12 days in Japan where he worked with the Panasonic side.

- © Fairfax NZ News