A total of 26 coaches have been approached by New Zealand Rugby to throw their hats into the ring for the now vacant All Blacks job, all of them Kiwi, chairman Brett Impey revealed.
With Steve Hansen having now vacated the post of All Blacks coach after this year's third placed finish at the Rugby World Cup, New Zealand Rugby have begun their process to replace the long-serving head coach.
Fronting media today, Impey spoke about the recruitment process New Zealand Rugby are going through to find the coaching team tasked with taking the All Blacks forward from 2020 onwards.
"You'll know them all," he said.
"We wrote to 26, whether they be international coaches, current New Zealand Rugby coaches, whether they be the All Blacks, our Super [Rugby] teams, clubs overseas, the whole bunch.
"I'm sure if you sat down, you'd be able to write the whole bunch of them out."
Impey also said that any coaches that were not part of the 26 approached will not have a chance to throw their hats into the ring.
"We believe that we've covered the field in terms of coaches that will have the skill set to do the job.
"This is a specialist job, you don't put an ad up on 'Seek' to try and find the next All Blacks coach. All of them have been in our process, from time to time.
"Some have coaches overseas for a long period, others for a shorter period. But we have communicated with all of them recently to let them know what the process is, inviting them to come forward."
New Zealand Rugby earlier today revealed the panel that will take part in the recruitment of the next All Blacks coach, while outgoing CEO Steve Tew says that a decision will hopefully be made before Christmas.
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