A Kiwi coach plying his trade in the Wales and the British and Irish Lions set-up is set to return to New Zealand in order to make a play for the highly coveted All Blacks head coaching role when it becomes available.
Sound familiar?
It should, it’s the road our last two All Blacks coaches, the same ones responsible for the country's back-to-back Rugby World Cup victories, have taken.
Warren Gatland’s flimsy denial to Newshub of reports that he will return to New Zealand permanently after June's Lions Tour shows that he’s more in the Steve Hansen and Sir Graham Henry mould then we ever recognized.
But his return to the New Zealand Rugby fold makes sense for all involved.
For starters, if the 53-year-old bails on the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) after the Lions’ New Zealand Tour, he leaves the union with enough time to plan for the next Rugby World Cup in Japan and enough time to bring a new crop of players through.
Secondly, it’s hard to think of a time when the crop of international quality coaches coaching domestically in New Zealand Rugby was so thin.
Sure, you have the very capable Ian Foster and Wayne Smith as Hansen’s offsiders and the next logical steps.
But Smith has previously said he doesn’t harbour the desire to be New Zealand Rugby’s top coaching role again. On the other hand, you can't help but feel Foster still has a way to come in his development if he’s going to be considered.
When you zoom out further from the All Blacks set-up, the candidates who could eventually succeed current coach Hansen seem a long shot at best.
Gatland's results with Wales with the exception of the 2011 Rugby World Cup don’t flatter him. Many Northern Hemisphere rugby pundits have also been quoted saying that he can't take the team any further.
After what will soon be 10 years at the helm of Welsh rugby, you’ll find few that disagree with them.
With two of New Zealand’s more successful Super Rugby teams in the Chiefs and the Highlanders currently without a coach after the 2017 season, Gatland’s return to New Zealand doesn’t seem like an if, it seems like a when.
With the road to the All Blacks head coaching role long being paved for Gatland, it now seems like he's about to walk down it.
