Hansen set for new role after World Cup?

NEWS: All Blacks head coach Steve Hansen is set to take up a newly created role as New Zealand’s Director of Rugby after next year’s World Cup.

Former Ireland loose forward Alan Quinlan claimed on the Off the Ball AM show that he spoke to former All Blacks Justin Marshall and Jeff Wilson, who claim to have information on Hansen’s future.

“I spoke to Jeff Wilson last week and I was asking him and Justin Marshall: ‘What’s the talk back home in New Zealand?’,” Quinlan said.

“Both of them were saying there’s no major talk of Joe Schmidt coming back. They know what he’s achieving and people know he’s doing really well in Ireland. The talk is that Steve Hansen is going up as a director of rugby and then there will be a possibility of a [vacant head coach] position.”

It is believed that current All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster will replace Hansen as head coach.

“The thing that happened when Graham Henry left was that Hansen stepped up. So, there’s not an awful lot of change or structure to the group.

“There’s talk that a similar scenario is happening with Ian Foster and he’ll step up and take the head coach role – with Hansen moving up into that director of rugby role,” said Quinlan.

Hansen is expected to make an announcement on his future on December 17.

Source: New Zealand Herald, Off the Ball AM show