The New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) board confirmed the appointment process for the All Blacks head coaching position at the monthly meeting in Wellington this week.

An internal review will take place at the conclusion of the World Cup, and it will be run by Don Tricker, who helped oversee the post-mortem following the All Blacks 20-18 loss to France at the 2007 World Cup quarterfinals.

Tricker is the former New Zealand men's softball coach and performance consultant for government sporting body SPARC, and worked alongside Auckland lawyer Mike Heron four years ago in compiling the review.

NZRU Chief Executive Steve Tew said the process to appoint the next All Blacks coach was underway, and would be completed before the year is out.

"The review will be short and sharp and largely conducted with internal resource led by Don Tricker who was involved in the last review but when he was an outsider," Tew said.

Tew hoped that the process would be complete "by close of business before Christmas, hopefully a week or two earlier than that".

Current coach Graham Henry is widely expected to step down after the World Cup, assistant Steve Hansen has in the past expressed interest in the role, while assistant Wayne Smith will take up a position with the Chiefs in the 2012 Super Rugby season.

All eligible candidates were being approached.

"We are going out to all the coaches who are eligible to be a head coach of the All Blacks and making sure they understand and know the process," Tew said.

"Realistically, it's not a general ad in the paper – there are only a specific group of people who qualify."