Coach delivers halftime message from Fiji

It would have to go down as one of the stranger tales to come out of club rugby finals day.

A search for Tukapa co-coach Tim Stuck proved fruitless after their dramatic 17-14 win over Coastal, so his whereabouts was sought from coaching partner Laurence Corlett.

‘‘No, he’s in Fiji with his family,’’ Corlett explained. Modern man, it seems. Well, no. Not by intention, anyway.

It turned out Stuck’s wife had made enquiries about the dates of the club finals and had been fed the wrong information.

Hence she went out and booked the non-refundable holiday package and Stuck, who is deputy principal at Francis Douglas Memorial College, had to miss the final. Well, not quite.

Taranaki Rugby decided to live stream the final on its Facebook page so Stuck could put his feet up on the lounger beside the pool, cocktail in hand and watch quietly as Adrian Wyrill scored an injury time try to give the defending champions back-to-back titles.

Well, not quite again.

It appears Stuck was not entirely the sit on his hands sort of coach from afar.

Instead of the cocktail in his hand he had his cellphone, which he was on often to Corlett pointing out where he thought they were going wrong and what could be done to improve their situation as they fell behind in the match.

‘‘I spent half the final on the phone to him,’’ Corlett reckoned.

As for the halftime speech, well, Stuck had that sorted as well.

He simply phoned in again and got one of the managers to put it on speaker and he spent five minutes outlining his message to the backs who were huddled around in a tight circle.

Modern coaching - although I’m not sure how quick it will catch on.