New Zealand coach Bazeley has World Cup 2026 firmly in his sights

“After our World Cup campaign finished in 2022, everyone’s contract expired. The campaign had been pretty good, but we ended up losing an intercontinental play-off with Costa Rica and didn’t qualify for Qatar.

“Then I was told they had a preferred candidate, but nothing much happened and we were in February. We had two games in March, so the FA said they were negotiating with a preferred candidate but it wouldn’t be completed in time for those games so they wanted me to be interim coach. “Then the next game was in Austria against Qatar. We were playing really well and winning 1-0, and then just before half-time it all kicked off and as the players came off they were clearly agitated.

It could have been easy for Bazeley to leave the process at any time, especially as he was aware there was a preferred candidate, and it wasn’t him. “They are very good players and I feel they are going to have really good careers. They’re just finding their feet at the moment, and when you put them together they look really good because they have that cohesion and connection built from playing together down the years.With more teams competing at the 2026 finals, New Zealand have what looks, on paper at least, a far greater chance of being there.

Unlike Gareth Southgate, who is only ever a few hours in a car from watching his England players in club games, Bazeley’s All-Whites are pretty much everywhere except in New Zealand. “All of our players are pretty much based offshore, so when we played in Europe recently it was actually quite easy because we only had three players from this part of the world.

Talking of rugby, if England play the All Blacks in the forthcoming World Cup, who will Bazeley be supporting?

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