WATCH: New All Blacks coach Jason Ryan on taking on Boks forwards
"There is no better environment or country or team to test yourself against as a forwards coach."
Forwards coach Jason Ryan. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
New forwards coach of the All Blacks, Jason Ryan, says he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but in South Africa for his first taste of Test rugby with his country’s national rugby team.
Ryan, a respected scrum coach and now forwards guru, worked at the Crusaders previously before being called up to the All Blacks squad this last weekend. He replaces John Plumtree as forwards coach in Ian Foster’s management team.
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Ryan’s first job will be to prepare a pack to take on the Springboks in back-to-back Rugby Championship Tests in Mbomebela and Joburg on 6 and 13 August. It is a baptism of fire that Ryan said he could not wait for.
“Honestly, I can’t wait,” said Ryan at the New Zealanders’ training camp in Wellington.
“It doesn’t get any better. There is no better environment or country or team to test yourself against as a forwards coach.
“We’ve got immense respect for them as a forward pack, and am looking forward to the challenge. There is nowhere else we’d rather be.”
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The All Blacks go into the competition having lost a series to Ireland in July, while the Boks edged Wales.
The Bok pack is widely viewed as one of the strongest and best in the world, with the scrum and lineout particularly effective. Ryan said one of his key tasks was to ensure the All Blacks would be able to stop the Boks’ driving maul – a source of many tries for the 2019 world champions.
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“We need to stop mauls,” said Ryan, who helped make the Crusaders one of the best club teams in the game. “But, we need to do what works for us, for the All Blacks (not the Crusaders).
“We’ve done a few critical things in the last few days and made some progress. We’re looking forward to the challenge ahead.”
The All Blacks are scheduled to arrive in South Africa at the weekend, ahead of the first Test in Mbombela next Saturday. The Boks, meanwhile, are in a training camp in Hazyview, Mpumalanga.
