yeah the thing is they wont want to coach super rugby forever. I bet Robinson will already be getting itchy feet with his current position there isn't much more he can do and international sides and money'd up overseas clubs will be on his case.
it does seem like the pathway to being an All Blacks coach is to get in as an assistant. Foster may not have won a super rugby ***le but the years of international experience as a successful high level All Black coach IMO trump anything the other options bring. Maintaining the continuity of the successful coaching setup and team created and evolved from 2004 has to be a major priority.
It makes sense to have some degree of continuity, some degree of something fresh.
I think Robertson is very unproven and it would be. Mistake to bring him in without retaining any of the current coaches. Robertson has simply not had the challenge of coaching a team to success that doesn't have the best players in the competition. The all blacks are always up there with some of the best players, but there is always a chance we have a patch where a few teams have better. He hasn't had to adapt his coaching tactics, in that sense he is incredibly inexperienced.
the highlanders coaches - brown, Joseph, McLeod - are very experienced, by contrast. They trialled several styles at the highlanders before getting it right, then have gone into various roles including the sunwolves and japan which required altogether new tactics again.
a transition period with foster head coach, brown and McLeod assisting, then potentially transitioning foster out for Joseph, gatland, Robertson (if he has some better experiwnce), or Rennie could work.
Schmidt in an advisory role would seem like a good idea for his lifestyle.
The biggest question for me is who will replace mike cron. He has been immense and we are going to need that continued technical focus for the forwards.
