Boyd’s style: ‘robust and honest’

He has absolutely no authority over Highlanders selection or recruitment.

He took some inspiration from Cirque Du Soleil and how the movements and attitudes of circus performers could translate to the rugby field.

And, no, he does not believe Elliot Dixon scored that try in the 2015 Super Rugby final.

Chris Boyd is the new but familiar face at the Highlanders, the vastly experienced former Hurricanes coach joining the club as a mentor for new head coach Clark Dermody.

Boyd gave a wide-ranging interview to the Dunedin rugby media via Zoom last night and outlined why he was interested in the role and what he hoped he could bring to the Highlanders on his return to New Zealand rugby for the first time in four years.

He has just finished a successful stint as director of rugby at Northampton Saints — he is keeping a link as a consultant — and sees parallels with the English club and the Highlanders.

"In the period of time I’ve been up here, part of what I wanted to leave behind was to grow and develop an all-English, young, high-potential group, both in coaching and players.

"Saints asked if I would consider staying on in a consultancy role to help that transition.

"That appealed to me. I probably enjoy working with coaches and coaching groups as much as I do with the team.

"Next thing I got a call from the Highlanders to say they were doing much the same, that they were going to appoint Derms organically and it was his time."

Boyd is Wellington to the core but said he liked Dunedin and felt he would be a good fit with the Highlanders.

His new role is simply to help Dermody and his staff wherever he is needed.

"One of things about rugby is the transition from player to technical coach can be fairly easy. Half of the delivery, you’re an expert at already, and the other half you just need to get better at.

"The transition from technical coach to head coach — there are not many places you learn that transition. It’s only really time in the seat.

"The Highlanders were keen to help their coaching group out, and it fitted quite nicely with what I’m doing at the Saints.

"I’ve got a reasonably good idea already, after speaking with Derms, about what things are going to be challenges for him and what things are already in place that he can crack on with.

"You just need to work out what the dynamics of the group are, and work out how you’re going to make the boat go faster."

Boyd expects he will spend about a week a month in Dunedin.

The pandemic had helped everyone get comfortable with working remotely but it was also important he spent time in the South with his new team.

Most of his work with Northampton can be done remotely but he plans to make about three trips a year back to England.

While Dermody is the rookie, in terms of Super Rugby head coaching, and the mentor is the one with the bulging CV, Boyd made it clear there would be no issues around the division of authority.

"I have no power or authority — zero," he said.

"So, every single decision that gets made, I can give Clarke counsel, I can be reasonably forceful in my opinion or I can be as soft as asking him a few questions that might challenge his thinking.

"When it comes to decision-making, perhaps the only one I might be involved in is when I will be going to Dunedin.

"We already have a pretty good understanding that we need to be robust and honest with each other, but he will get that in the belly and not the back."

Boyd watched all Super Rugby Pacific games this year.

He already has a good understanding of how the Highlanders, who were mediocre for much of the season, might take a step up in 2023.

"I’d be very disappointed if the Highlanders didn’t have significant growth in their on-field game."

Expectations could be tempered by the fact the Highlanders had one of the smallest pools of players, and the club lacked the financial clout of teams like the Blues and Hurricanes.

That meant the Highlanders needed to be really smart.

"Clarke and I have already talked about the fact that, with the cattle we’ve got, we need to wring way more out of them than some of the other teams need to get out of their players.

"We’re going to have to get a lot of blood out of the stone."

Lest it seem he was talking the Highlanders down, Boyd was quick to highlight the fact the team had some real strengths.

He highlighted the power-packed loose forward trio of Marino Mikaele-Tu’u, Shannon Frizell and Billy Harmon (or James Lentjes), and a balanced and strong tight five.

"If you’ve got a pack that can go forward, you can build an awful lot of attack around it.

"So I think there are some bones in there that are pretty promising."

Boyd might be a seasoned coach but he is not afraid of fresh thinking.

He spoke about spending some time with Cirque Du Soleil in Montreal and picking up some handy tips for dealing with rugby players.

"It was an absolutely drop-dead moment for me when I watched these people and picked up the two major parts of their training.

"One was bloody-minded repetition of their core basics. So if you’re a trampoliner, all you did was getting your bounce and balance right.

"Then the other bit is what they call jouer, or play. The coaches or support people weren’t really involved with that — they just let them play.

"I sat there and went, you know, when do we allow our players to practise in a free space where if they make mistakes, it doesn’t matter?

"If you’re so bound up with being accurate and not making mistakes, you’re never going to explore the boundaries of your skillsets."

At Northampton, the club labelled the structured part of its training sessions Church’s, after the famous local footwear factory, and the "jouer" sections Carlsberg, after the brewery.

The trip to Montreal came when Boyd was linking with High Performance Sport NZ while coaching the Hurricanes.

He also spent time at a military academy and with the San Antonio Spurs basketball franchise.

One of the lessons from the latter — one of the dominant teams in recent history — was that team success needed to be celebrated before individual achievements.

Boyd was not in a mood to celebrate a team’s success in 2015, when his Hurricanes were upset by one of the great underdog stories in the Super Rugby final.

The Highlanders won in part thanks to a Dixon try that, well, was possibly questionable.

"I accept two things — he didn’t score a try, and Julian Savea should have.

"It was about three years after that final that I finally got over the hurdle of watching it."