Crowley aims to leave fellow Kiwi grounded
Thursday 22 September 2011, 5:37PM
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It may read Canada v Japan on Tuesday night's fixture list but in the battle of the coaches it will be Kiwi facing Kiwi.
Former All Blacks stars Kieran Crowley and John Kirwan will go head to head at McLean Park in Napier as respective coaches of Canada and Japan.
The Canucks may be slight favourites based on their form at RWC 2011 but Crowley, who became Canada coach in 2008, has yet to steer his side to a victory against Kirwan’s Brave Blossoms.
The scorelines in the team's two encounters in 2009 read 46-8 and 27-6 in Japan's favour.
“They really cleaned us out in those two games," said Crowley, "so we know what to expect and what they’re going to bring to the table, and we’re going to have to combat that. But they certainly have the momentum on that side of things.”
Strong ideas
Crowley and Kirwan enjoyed illustrious All Blacks careers, Crowley playing 19 Tests and scoring 105 points while Kirwan amassed 63 caps and 143 points. The pair played in New Zealand's World Cup-winning side of 1987.
Having made the transition to coaching, both have strong ideas about how rugby should be played and there is no doubt Canada and Japan have come a long way under their Kiwi mentors.
“JK’s pretty experienced,” said Crowley. “He’s coached Italy and he coached Japan at the last World Cup. He’s been around for a fair while and he’s got the Japanese guys going pretty well and he’ll obviously be looking at using the fast game.
“The Japanese are renowned for a fast, keep-the-ball-alive type of game. He’s brought that to the table and I certainly like that as well.
Friendly rivalry
“We were both outside backs and we like getting the ball, so there’s not too much difference there, but obviously you’ve got to make the most of the strengths of your team as well.”
Crowley and Kirwan are far from strangers, and being thrown together in this Pool A clash has sparked a bit of friendly rivalry between them.
“We played a lot of rugby together for the All Blacks and we get on well together,” added Crowley.
“There’s always that little bit of bragging rights but it’s all good-natured.
“There’s a healthy rivalry between us but we’ll play hard on the day and then we’ll enjoy a beer afterwards, so there’s definitely that mutual respect there.”