Jamie Joseph

His father, Jim Joseph, was a prop for the Marlborough rugby team from 1963 to 1977 and also played for New Zealand Māori.

His mother Maude (née MacDonald) is the sister of Iwi and Mugwi MacDonald, the daughter of Manny MacDonald, granddaughter of Jack MacDonald and aunt of Hoani MacDonald, all of whom represented New Zealand Māori.

Joseph affiliates to Ngāti Maniapoto through his father and Rangitāne and Ngāti Rārua through his mother.

He was educated at Church College and the University of Otago, where he completed a Bachelor of Physical Education majoring in psychology.

James Whitinui Joseph (born 21 November 1969) is a New Zealand-born Japanese former rugby union player and current rugby union coach.

Joseph made his debut for Otago in 1989, playing mainly at lock, which was the position he was selected for when playing for the New Zealand Colts in his debut season.

By 1991, Joseph was a consistent starter for his province and was moved to number six where his athleticism and line-out ability saw him gain a call-up to the New Zealand Maori squad where he played 10 times between 1991 and 1994.

In that same year, he was part of Otago's National Provincial Championship winning side.

A flanker, Joseph represented Otago at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1992 to 1995, before representing Japan in 1999.

Joseph, now head coach of the Japanese national side, has coached since his retirement, coming through the ranks in New Zealand before his first national stint.

Joseph was born in Blenheim, New Zealand.

In 1992, Joseph was quickly promoted to the All Black trials and gained a place in the centenary series.

On 22 April 1992, Joseph made his All Blacks international debut against a World XV side off the bench.

Later that year, he started his first test, playing at 6 against Ireland.

When playing for the All Blacks against England in 1993, Jamie Joseph stomped on Kyran Bracken's ankle causing a significant injury.

Jamie Joseph remained as a regular starter for the All Blacks and was part of the 1995 Rugby World Cup squad that famously lost to South Africa in the final.

After the World Cup, Joseph moved to Japan where he played for Fukuoka Sanix Blues.

He played for the newly formed side for six years, which saw him be selected for the Japanese national side ahead of the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

He made his debut on 1 May 1999 against Canada in Tokyo.

New Zealand

Otago

After retiring from playing rugby in early 2001, Joseph returned home to New Zealand.

In 2003, he was appointed as the Wellington Lions skills coach before being promoted to assistant coach by Aussie Mclean ahead of the 2007 Air New Zealand Cup.

In that year, Wellington made the final, only to lose to Auckland 23–14.

In 2006, he was assistant coach to Donny Stevenson for the Māori All Blacks during the 2006 Churchill Cup, which saw the Māori team win the title after beating Scotland A 52–17 in the final.

In November 2007, Joseph was later named as the new head coach of Wellington Lions with Aussie Mclean stepping down from his role to coach Super 14 side Hurricanes.

In his first match in charge, Wellington convincingly defeated Hawke's Bay 30–6.

A further eight victories saw the Lions finish top seed ahead of the Knockout stage of the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup.

After beating Taranaki and Southland in the quarterfinals and semifinals, Joseph led Wellington to a narrow loss to Canterbury in the final, losing 7–6.

For a further two seasons, Wellington made the play-offs, including a third consecutive final in 2009, again like in 2008, losing narrowly to Canterbury 28–20.

In May 2010, Joseph was named the Māori All Blacks head coach for their matches against Ireland and England, both of which was won by the Māori side; 31–28 and 35–28 respectively.

The 2010 ITM Cup would be Joseph's last season in charge of the provincial side, with Joseph being named the new Highlanders head coach ahead of the 2011 Super Rugby season in July 2010.

The 2010 ITM Cup saw Wellington be knocked out at the semifinals stage, losing to Canterbury 57–41.

In his first season in charge of a franchise side, Joseph's saw mixed results with the Highlanders only winning half of their games (8 won, 8 lost) to finish eighth on the table.

In 2012 the side dropped one place, but won more than half of their games during the season.

This later saw Joseph resign with the franchise as head coach.

In November 2012, Jamie Joseph retained his role as the Māori All Blacks head coach for their tour of the United Kingdom, which saw the side win two of their three game; defeating a RFU Championship XV side 52–21 and Canada 32–19.

Their loss coming against Leicester Tigers 32–24 in their opening match of the tour.

In 2013, Joseph's side dropped to their worst positioning since 1997, only winning three games from sixteen.

That same year, he stood down from his role as Māori All Blacks head coach.