Taranaki rugby recognises Cooper
It’s hard to think of too many people who have made a greater contribution to Taranaki rugby than Colin Cooper.
He played more than 100 games for the province, then coached the Taranaki team to Ranfurly Shield and a National Provincial Championship title.
He’s also coached the Hurricanes, New Zealand Maori and is now the Chiefs’ coach. His huge contribution was recently recognised when he, along with former All Black captain Graham Mourie, were given the rare accolade of being made life members of the Taranaki Rugby Union.
Taranaki Rugby Union chairman Lindsay Thomson was quick to pay tribute to both men.
‘‘Obviously both men were Taranaki centurions in their playing days, but it is what they have done since retiring that sets them apart.
‘‘Colin has gone on to a distinguished coaching career at provincial, Super and national level, while Graham has coached at provincial and Super level and was a member of the boards of New Zealand and World Rugby.
‘‘Despite having reached these lofty heights both men have always remembered their roots in Taranaki.’’
Cooper began his playing days for Taranaki in 1979 as a 20-yearold and played 101 matches in all. He was in the Maori All Blacks in 1982 and 1983 and played for New Zealand Junior side in 1982.
While that was a significant contribution to the game in Taranaki, it was as a coach that Cooper really made his mark. He began as an assistant coach with Taranaki in 1995, 1996 and 1998. He took over as head coach from 1999 until 2002 then succeeded Mourie as Hurricanes coach until 2010. Cooper moved back to Taranaki to coach the provincial side again and won the Ranfurly Shield in 2011 and 2017 as well as guiding Taranaki to the National Provincial title in 2014.
In between his provincial coaching roles Cooper coached the New Zealand under-21 side which won the World Cup in 2001,the Junior All Blacks from 2005-2007 and Maori All Blacks from 2013-2017.
Cooper is widely respected as a modest, unassuming quietlyspoken man. That masks a fierce competitive spirit however and, as his record suggests he has the knack of building a great culture and in his teams. He first showed his ability to do that when he took an unfancied Clifton team to the Taranaki Club title in 1999, beating a favoured New Plymouth Old Boys in the final.