New Zealand forwards coach Jason Ryan has revealed how some wise words of advice from legendary All Blacks second-row Sam Whitelock assisted his coaching development.
Ryan has been part of the All Blacks set-up since 2022 when he joined former head coach Ian Foster’s backroom staff ahead of that year’s Rugby Championship.
Meanwhile, Whitelock retired after the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France and ended his career as the most capped All Blacks player, and second most capped men’s international, of all-time with 153 caps.
Apart from working together as player and coach at Test level, Ryan and Whitelock know each other well as they were also part of the highly successful Crusaders outfit.
Won several Super Rugby titles together at the Crusaders
Ryan was part of head coach Scott Robertson’s coaching staff when they won several Super Rugby titles from 2016 until he took up his position with the All Blacks while Whitelock made 180 appearances for the Crusaders between 2010 and 2023.
And it was during their stint at the Christchurch-based franchise that Whitelock offered some counselling to Ryan.
Appearing on the The Dom Harvey Podcast, Ryan was asked to name the best players who he has coached and replied: “That’s a tough one to identify because they’re all different, you know. Like, they’ve all taught me something. Every player you coach, I learn from.”
Ryan then revealed the story of Whitelock giving him advice and the impact it made on him as a coach and a person.
“There’s probably… I can’t answer the best player I’ve coached, but there’s been some players that have given me some direction in my coaching that have helped me, and one would be Sam Whitelock when we were coaching Super Rugby. I think it was 2018, 2019,” said the 49-year-old.
“I’m pretty sure he’d be happy for me to share this, but we were playing the Waratahs and he said, one morning: ‘Should we catch up for a coffee?’ I was like: ‘Oh, yeah, sweet. Where are we going to do it?’
‘Said a couple of things to me’
“And he basically just squared me out and just said a couple of things to me that I just needed to probably reset myself of how I was in my body language and how I was coaching.
“Just a little bit of that off-field balance between player and coaches and where you can’t cross the line, being out late or whatever that was.
“I probably muddled that, what he said, but he just made me think. He didn’t say: ‘You should or you need’.
“He said it would be good if you could just consider a couple of things here that could make you better because if you want to go to where you want to go, you probably just need to make a couple of adjustments.
“It was good feedback, technically and tactically, and a little bit of personal stuff. And I thanked him for it so many times.
“It helped me. It definitely came at a very good time. You can’t be a lad, and I probably was a little bit in the younger days.”
READ MORE: Jason Ryan hails Sam Cane ‘resilience’ and how the All Blacks ‘couldn’t not pick him’
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/all-blacks-coach-reveals-sam-whitelocks-words-of-advice-and-how-it-gave-him-some-direction-in-his-career
