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Sadness for Joseph

Jamie Joseph expects his departure to the Highlanders sometime next month will cause minimal disruption in the Wellington ranks.

Saturday, 31 July 2010

Sportal.co.nz

Jamie Joseph expects his departure to the Highlanders sometime next month will cause minimal disruption in the Wellington ranks.

After weeks of speculation Joseph was confirmed as the new Highlanders coach on Friday and will leave the Lions no later than the end of August to take up his new role in Dunedin.

His assistant coach for the past two years, Andre Bell, will step up as Lions head coach with Richard Watt expected to take over running the forwards.

Joseph admitted family considerations and agreeing a time frame for him to leave Wellington had played a big part in the length of time it took him to make his decision but he was confident the transition would be a smooth one.

"There's a massive job to do down there, which is obvious," he said. "But there's also a massive job to do here … I'm pretty confident the guys have been around a long time and the players are at that stage where they are going forward by themselves.

"The way Andre and I have coached in the past anyway is that both coaches contribute in their areas of expertise and I guess in terms of presenting to the team Andre will start taking that mantle on from now on and I'll still be there as the forwards coach," added Joseph.

Joseph and Bell have spent the last two years stamping their mark on the Wellington side and Joseph admitted there was a tinge of sadness that he would not get to see if those good foundations that had been laid resulted in the ultimate prize this year after being nearly-men in 2008 and 2009.

"This is the year that we think that we don't have to educate guys about how we are," Joseph explained.

"You see that they are doing extras now and working hard without us yelling at them and that for us as coaches is probably the best position we've been in in the time I've been the coach.

"I'm a little bit sad but my job is not to get the accolades. My job is just to make sure it happens."

The first step on the 2010 provincial road is taking on Tasman in the capital on Sunday in their ITM Cup opener.

But the Lions will do so without half-back Alby Mathewson who is back from his spell in the All Blacks camp as cover from Piri Weepu but has an ankle injury.

"He probably could have played but we don't want to risk his future in the All Blacks," explained Joseph.

"His future in our team is that he's a leading player and we want to make sure he's around for the rest of the season."

The pack, with props John Schwalger and Neemia Tialata, who will captain the side in Rodney So'oialo's absence, hooker Dane Coles, lock Jeremy Thrush and loose forwards Scott Fuglistaller and Faifili Levave has an experienced look about it.

While the backline is spearheaded by prolific try-scorer Hosea Gear and exciting young talent in Alapati Leuia and IRB junior player of the year Julian Savea.

The bench however is lacking in experience with only hooker Ged Robinson, flanker/lock Api Naikatini and back Charlie Ngatai who have played provincial rugby before.

"For me that's what the competition is all about, developing the younger guys and giving them a taste of professional rugby," said Joseph.

"[Prop] Reg Goodes is young but he played against Canterbury in the development team and marked Peter Borlase and showed the mentality that he'll be a good rugby player but he hasn't been open to this sort of company yet and we'll soon see if he's got it or not. I think he'll be okay.

"With [openside flanker] Serge Lilo out for the season [with a pectoral/chest injury] we are dabbling really and TJ Ioane gets his chance. He's been playing consistently well for [his club] and has been part of our academy and knows our systems."

Team:

1. John Schwalger, 2. Dane Coles, 3. Neemia Tialata (captain), 4. Jeremy Thrush, 5. Daniel Ramsay, 6. Mark Reddish, 7. Scott Fuglistaller, 8. Faifili Levave, 9. Ruki Tipuna, 10. Fa'atonu Fili, 11. Hosea Gear, 12. Shaun Treeby, 13. Alapati Leiua, 14. Julian Savea, 15. Apoua Stewart.

16. Ged Robinson, 17. Reg Goodes, 18. Api Naikatini, 19. TJ Ioane, 20. Jared Kahu, 21. Hayden Cripps, 22. Charlie Ngatai.

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