Sergeant has major targets
Ben James admits he has a few nerves ahead of his first representative coaching gig with the Manawatu Development XV.
The Linton Army coach is taking over from Fusi Feaunati, who has moved to the Manawatu Cyclones, and will be assisted by Feilding Old Boys-oroua coach Glen Gregory and Bruce Hemara.
James, a sergeant in the New Zealand Army, coached Linton Army for the first time in 2016, but missed most of the 2017 club season while posted overseas.
But the former senior 1 player still paid attention from abroad.
‘‘I still kept the finger on the pulse and I had good contact with the Linton coaches,’’ he said.
‘‘I kept a pretty good eye on things and watched a lot of the videos overseas so I was not too far removed from it.’’
He named his first 23-man squad this week, but said he had two more places to fill closer to their first match. There will likely be some Turbos players released for matches depending on who needs game time.
‘‘There is still a couple of positions to fill. We purposely tried to leave a couple of places open because listening to what has happened in the past about people coming up and down for the Turbos. I did not want to have to select someone and then drop them [because their place had been filled by a Turbos player].’’
‘‘I am pretty excited to see them run onto the field. We want to make sure that we are helping the Turbos out.’’
Lock Tom Hughes is the sole player with provincial experience in the team.
But the likes of props Sam Tufuga and Adam Coll, hooker Max Fryatt, lock Tui Katoa, loose forwards George Macpherson and Kirk Tufuga should all play big roles in the forward pack.
The backs will be led by first five-eighth Ben Wyness, midfielder Patrick Tafili-reid and halfback Atu Henare.
Ollie Brosnahan continues his promising transition from the side of the scrum to the wing. The man dubbed ‘‘Maddog’’ had a nose for the tryline for Fob-oroua.
Clubmate Alex Hawira was one of the most improved players in club rugby this year. The No 8 was a big contributor for Fob-oroua.
Manawatu have two preseason games in August against
Wairarapa Bush and Horowhenuakapiti. They then take part in the Hurricanes Shield competition, which starts in September. They play Wellington Samoans, Wellington Maori, Wellington Centurions and Hawke’s Bay Saracens.