All Blacks lose kicking guru
As one of the lesser known members of the coaching team during the Graham Henry/Steve Hansen era, Byrne, who joined the side in 2005, was not well known to the general rugby public, but the players all knew him, and benefited from the technical savvy he brought to rugby.
Originally involved in Australian Rules Football where he played for Melbourne, Hawthorn and Sydney in making 167 appearances, he brought the kicking and catching skills of the game often described as 'aerial ping-pong' to rugby and that has been greatly to the game's advantage in New Zealand.
He was the Wallabies kicking and catching coach in their successful 1999 World Cup campaign while he was working with the Brumbies from 1998-2001. He was a consultant to the Springboks in 2001-02 before becoming kicking coach for Scotland in 2002. He has also coached in England and Japan and had a stint as an assistant coach with the Blues.
His technical expertise was not only a contributing factor to the All Blacks' twin World Cup successes but also to each of the New Zealand Super Rugby franchises where he worked with kickers.
It wasn't only in goal-kicking but in tactical punting of the ball through all the variations of tactical choice and adding length to kicks that he aided players.
While working significantly with the world's highest points scorer in rugby Dan Carter, Byrne also helped others like Aaron Cruden, Israel Dagg, Beauden Barrett, Stephen Donald, Lima Sopaga with their kicking game.
But it is players across the board who have shown better understanding of kicking requirements and that has come down to their being taught the basic techniques of kicking as part of their routine exercises.
While most teams opted for a kick as a defensive release, Byrne helped New Zealand utilise the kick as an attacking strategy and an aid to opening up space.
Success in the aerial competition for ball has also improved with much work done at training with crash pads to help players refine the ability to secure ball in aerial contact situations.
