Ieremia takes over Auckland reins

Auckland Rugby Union (ARU) have announced that former Samoa coach Alama Ieremia will guide their Mitre 10 Cup fortunes for the next three years.

The 47-year-old was unveiled as the new Auckland head coach on Monday and will assume his role fulltime when he moves to the City of Sails next month. His assistant coaches will be named in the New Year. Over the last 12 months, the ARU have introduced a programme of change within the organisation, with the aspiration to grow participation and build strong, sustainable community rugby.

After an extensive global recruitment process, the ARU said they are excited to have Ieremia joining the union as Mitre 10 Cup head coach for 2018-20.

New Zealand 7s team peforming the new haka after winning the Cape Town 7s.

“Alama Ieremia is a coach with experience across NPC, Super, and international rugby environments and has a clear vision and professional attitude which will position him well in leading the future success of the Mitre 10 Cup team,” said Auckland Rugby CEO Jarrod Bear.

From 2016-17 he was head coach of Manu Samoa.

Ieremia says he is primed to take the reins at Auckland.

“Auckland is a proud and passionate union and are committed to creating a successful future,” he said.

“The Mitre 10 Cup campaign is something I’m familiar with. It’s a short and sharp competition. I’ll be looking at how to bring our Under 19 success through and mix that with the Super Rugby talent that we have together.