Due to his height of 194 cm, he was overlooked by the All Black selectors for being too short for an international class lock.
Nonetheless, his line-out jumping skills were impressive,[citation needed] and under the guidance of John Mitchell was selected as captain of the Waikato NPC team in 2003.
Despite various appearances for the All Blacks, Gibbes highest career achievement was captaining the NZ Maori to their first ever victory over the British & Irish Lions 19–13.
In February 2017 it was announced that Gibbes had been appointed as head coach of Ulster in Ireland, on a two-year contract from the 2017/18 season.
[2] However, in June 2018, less than three months after his departure from Ulster to return to New Zealand was made public it was revealed he would become head coach of La Rochelle in France.