John McKee (rugby union coach)
Wellington, New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
University | Monash University Massey University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Gregory McKee is a rugby union coach from New Zealand. He is a former coach of the Fiji national rugby 15s team.
Career
John Mckee is a New Zealand-born rugby union coach, who was the head coach of Fiji's 15s national rugby team. John Gregory McKee was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1957.
In 2007 he returned to Australia as the head coach of
After working with Tonga, he took up the role of Programs Coach at the Australian Rugby Union, where he was involved in developing and delivering rugby programs for 18- to 22-year-old players in the ARU National Academy Program. This also meant he was the assistant coach for the Australian Under-20's side in the 2013 IRB Junior World Championship in France, Australia finished seventh.[citation needed]
He is an
Fiji
In November 2013, McKee was appointed as the
In McKee's first match in charge, he led Fiji to a 25–14 win over Italy, Fiji's first win over a Tier 1 team since their 38–34 win over Wales in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In addition to this, he also led Fiji to first in the Pacific Islands conference of the 2014 IRB Pacific Nations Cup. This included a 45–17 win over Tonga and a 13–18 loss to Samoa. He coached the team to a 108–6 win over the Cook Islands in the 2015 Rugby World Cup Oceania qualification process, thus qualifying for England 2015, joining Pool A. During Fiji's 2014 European tour, McKee led the team to just one victory, coming against the United States winning 20–14. They had lost before this match, losing to France 40–15 and narrowly to Wales 17–13.[citation needed]
In 2015, McKee led the team to victory in the 2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, where Fiji beat Tonga 30–22 and Japan 27–22, while also drawing with Samoa 30–30. The Fiji-Samoa game was repeated again in the final, which saw Fiji out score Samoa 5 tries to 3, winning 39–29. McKee later led Fiji into the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where despite only picking up one win, 47–15 win over Uruguay, Fiji was largely competitive in all 4 matches, holding Wales to a 23–13 win and Australia to 28–13. McKee was linked with the Japan post, but McKee dismissed the rumours announcing that he would seek renewal of is contract through to the 2019 Rugby World Cup.[9]
In 2016, McKee lead Fiji to their third consecutive Pacific Nations Cup title, having beaten Tonga 23–18, after being down 15–0 at half time, and defeating Samoa 26–16. However, on 24 June, Fiji lost against Georgia for the first time, losing 14–3. During their 2016 end-of-year tour, Fiji gained a single win across 3 matches, coming in the final week against Japan 38–25. The other games saw Fiji get defeated by England, 58–15 and the Barbarians 40–7.[citation needed]
In
In June 2018, McKee led Fiji to their fourth consecutive Pacific Nations title, after beating Samoa 24–22 in the opening round and newcomers Georgia 37–15 in the second round. Despite the winning the PNC title, On 23 June, Fiji lost to Tonga for the first time since 2011 27–19, in a one-off test match outside the PNC. The 2018 November test matches say Fiji win two from three games, including an historic victory over France, winning 21–14. Records continued for Fiji at the start of the 2019 International season, defeating the Māori All Blacks in Suva 27–10 in preparation for the 2019 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup and World Cup. This was Fiji's first ever win over the Māori All Blacks in 16 matches, dating back to 1957. However the return fixture saw the Māori's win 26–17. During the 2019 PNC, Fiji not only lost their title held since 2015, but they also lost their first game in the competition since 2014; after losing to Japan 34–21 in the opening round. Victories over Canada and Samoa, meant Fiji finished runners-up to Japan.[citation needed]
Western Force
After leaving Fiji in January 2020, McKee took up an assistant role later in the year with Super Rugby team Western Force.[10] McKee left the team in September 2021, and was replaced by Paul Tito.[11]
Honours
- World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup
- Winners: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
- Runners-up: 2014, 2019
References
- ^ "World Cup Coaches". Rugby365. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
- ^ "Coach John McKee has returned Down Under after a successful six-year stint in Europe to link up with the New South Wales Central Coast franchise in the inaugural Australian Rugby Championship". The British & Irish Lions. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "Pacific Islands record first-ever victory". ESBN.co.uk. 22 November 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "RWC Team and Management". Tonga Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "McKee to head Fiji rugby HPU". The Fiji Times. 19 November 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "Cash-strapped Fiji sack coach Male". ESBN.co.uk. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "McKee interested in Flying Fijian's Coaching job". FijiOne. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ "FRU Appoints New Flying Fijians Head Coach". FijiRugby.com. 2 May 2014. Archived from the original on 2 May 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
- ^ I'm staying with Fiji, says coach John McKee as he dismisses rumours about Japan
- ^ Chadwick, Justin (23 October 2020). "Force sign ex-Fiji coach John McKee". 7 News.
- ^ Taylor, Nick (13 September 2021). "Western Force grab former New Zealand Super Rugby second-rower and coach Paul Tito as forwards supremo". The West Australian.