TNT Sports
Mitchell job unsure
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Published 21/11/2003 at 09:23 GMT
New Zealand coach John Mitchell will have to reapply for his job after the All Blacks finished third in the World Cup with a 40-13 win over France on Thursday. New Zealand Rugby Union chairman Jock Hobbs said that Mitchell's contract would expire at the end of December and applications would be invited for the position.
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"All interested parties, including John Mitchell, are invited to make applications for the position," said Hobbs. "The board believes it is necessary to conduct an open and transparent process to ensure that the best possible candidate is appointed to this most important position.
"In addition, the directors wish to give all coaches the opportunity to aspire to be appointed to this pre-eminent New Zealand rugby coaching position."
Hobbs said the NZRU board were disappointed the team had not won the World Cup.
"We are not happy that we didn't win the World Cup. We were very disappointed," he said.
"Even if we had won the World Cup there would have been a review process and that may have led to the coaching position becoming a contestable position."
NZRU chief executive Chris Moller said that Mitchell had been "very professional" when told he would need to reapply for his job after the third-place playoff on Thursday.
But he said he felt Mitchell's management style "had a number of areas to work on," including media relations and work with sponsors.
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