Tony Brown will be head coach until the end of the 2022 season and assistant Clarke Dermody is being groomed to replace him, but Brown s departure to focus on Japan s 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign will open up a position in the Highlanders coaching setup. In the shorter-term, the under-20s Super Rugby tournament will give all five Super Rugby clubs a clear development pathway for their promising younger players. For the New Zealand under-20 program, it should give players more exposure to quality coaching, training and opposition after some underwhelming recent years at the World Rugby Under 20 Championship level. After dominating the tournament in its early editions, New Zealand have won it only twice since 2012 and have not produced a World Rugby Junior Player of the Year since Julian Savea in 2010.