John Hart (rugby coach)
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John Hart is most famous as a New Zealand rugby coach, firstly for Auckland and for the All Blacks. He began his first class coaching career for Auckland in 1982 and achieved rapid and unprecedented success with them. His coaching reign of that province continued until 1986, during which time his Auckland team won the National Provincial Championship (NPC) all but one of the years. His team also won the Ranfurly Shield off Canterbury in 1985, beginning the longest reign in shield history.
Hart then co-coached the All Blacks to win the first Rugby World Cup in 1987. His co-coaches were "Grizz" Wylie and Brian Lochore.
There was much controversy when Wylie was appointed head coach in 1988 over Hart. However to be fair this was centred mostly in Auckland as Wylie undoubtedly had an equal or superior coaching record. In a move that he would probably later come to regret, Hart then refused to be in the selection panel, as he was not prepared to justify the workload if he could not be the main coach.
In a move that raised eyebrows, Hart was appointed co-coach with Wylie for the 1991 world cup. This policy, in hindsight, was a disaster as Hart and Wylie had a clear personality clash and even a personal dislike of each other. The All Blacks failed to perform at their best in the tournament, losing to Australia in the semi-finals.
Hart then sought the national coaching job in 1992 only to be beaten by the then Otago coach Laurie Mains. Mains' reign between 1992 and 1994 was patchy at best, which encouraged Hart to reapply for the All Black coaching position again in 1994. He was unsuccessful yet again, with Laurie Mains keeping the job until after the 1995 world cup. It was during this time that John Hart came to be regarded as the most controversial figure in the New Zealand game.
New Zealand All Blacks coach 1995 to 1999. Presided over successful All Black tour of South Africa in 1996, won the Tri-Nations three times. On Friday, November 5, 1999 he resigned after France beat New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final at Twickenham.
After an unspectacular playing career for the Waitemata, ? and ? clubs, Hart became involved in coaching in 197?.
Coach of Auckland 1982-1986? Excellent record, Auckland became New Zealand's dominant province. 14 Auckland players named to New Zealand's 1987 World Cup-winning squad.
Coach of New Zealand Colts 1988-1990?
Worked for Fletcher Challenge.
Hart, who was a co-coach of the All Blacks in 1991, took over from Laurie Mains in December 1995 and was in charge for 42 matches, winning 32 with nine losses and a draw.
Wayne Smith and Tony Gilbert (co-coaches) succeeded him as All Blacks coach.
He is currently a board member at the New Zealand Warriors, a New Zealand rugby league club.
