Wellington (AFP)

Anxious to find a worthy successor Steve Hansen, who left his position as coach of the All Blacks after the 3rd place at the World Cup in Japan, the federation announced having asked 26 technicians from New Zealand to submit application.

"We think we have gone through all the coaches who would have the skills to do the job, a specialist job," New Zealand boss Brent Impey said.

He welcomed that the country of the long white cloud has such a reservoir of coaches, "a luxury" according to him but also a reason for national pride.

"If you observe well, during the World Cup many of the best coaches" came from New Zealand, said Mr. Impey.

The selection of the new coach is expected before the end of the year and Mr. Impey pointed out that the selection committee, which includes Graham Henry, mentor of the All Blacks World Cup winners in 2011, expects this that the candidates present themselves with a complete staff of assistants.

Among the favorites is Jamie Joseph, who led Japan to a historic first quarter-final in the World Cup, but the former third-row has not yet indicated whether he would run for the All Blacks coaching position. he would stay in Japan.

Jamie Joseph's assistant to the Japanese team, Tony Brown, told him that he would remain loyal to his mentor and that he had rejected offers made by other contenders, such as Hansen's deputy Ian Foster All Blacks, or Scott Robertson, Crusaders coach (Super rugby).

"I made the decision to stay with Jamie, if he's a candidate for the All Blacks, I'm a starter, if he stays with Japan, I'm a starter," said Brown.

"We both want to coach the All Blacks, but we both want to do it at the right time, I hope the right time is now but maybe it will be four years from now," he added. .

Dave Rennie, who has led the Glasgow Warriors (Pro 14) since 2017, said last week that he had been asked to run.

Warren Gatland, the outgoing coach from Wales, remains hypothetical because he is under contract with the British and Irish Lions until 2021.

According to Impey, the track of Joe Schmidt, the former coach of Ireland, was not taken into consideration because the technician wants to take a break for family reasons.

© 2019 AFP