New Zealand 'desperate' to fend off England's advances for World Cup-winning coach Wayne Smith The 55-year-old former All Blacks fly-half held immense knowledge of how the team operated, their tactics and coaching techniques, Tew said, and the organisation would be keen to hang on to that. He is one of our intellectual properties. He has been with us for so long and been such an important contributor to developing things that work in our environment that we think he is a special case to protect. He has achieved an enormous amount as a coach and he loves coaching and he loves a challenge ... we are dead keen to find a solution but there is no easy one. Smith said on Friday he had been offered a hands-on role with the England team, with Lancaster adopting a director of coaching role in order to plan the strategic direction of the team and liaising with the clubs. Smith has an exit clause in his Chiefs contract and if he were to leave New Zealand, it would probably not be until the end of the current Super Rugby season in August. The All Blacks have an end of year tour to Europe with a match scheduled against England on Dec 1, and Smith said that could be a factor in his ultimate decision. "Having put the last eight years of my life into coaching the All Blacks and trying to win the World Cup, I'm going to have to search inside myself to see whether I could coach a team against them," Smith said, adding he hoped to make a decision over the next 10 days.