Hewett to coach Southland

Former All Blacks prop Dave Hewett is the new Southland Stags rugby coach.

Rugby Southland has appointed Hewett as both its director of coaching and as coach of the Stags for the 2018 and 2019 seasons.

Hewett takes over as coach from Hoani Macdonald, who resigned last month after two difficult years, with Southland winning just two games from 20 outings in the Mitre 10 Cup.

Hewett was left disappointed a year ago when, after being the Crusaders forwards coach for six years, he missed out to Glenn Delaney for the Canterbury head coach job.

However, he said then he would look for other coaching options and now has been rewarded, albeit with a challenging task to reverse the fortunes of Southland.

He had also missed out when Scott Robertson was appointed as Crusaders head coach this season.

Rugby Southland general manager Andrew Moreton said the calibre of candidates for the job was very impressive which made for an extremely difficult decision.

He said he was delighted to be able to appoint someone with Hewett’s skill-set as director of coaching.

‘‘Dave brings an extensive background in the professional rugby ranks as a player, in management, and as a coach,’’ Moreton said.

Hewett played 22 tests for the All Blacks from 2001 to 2003. He was part of four winning Super Rugby winning Crusaders teams, playing 71 times for them from

1998 to 2005.

He later rejoined Canterbury and the Crusaders as their professional development manager and as a scrum coach.

In 2010 he was appointed as both the Crusaders forwards coach and the manager of the Canterbury provincial team.

Hewett coached the United States Eagles in their recent test matches against Germany and Georgia and is also the current New Zealand under-20 scrum coach.

He said he was excited about the opportunity to link with Southland rugby.

Moreton said the plan was for Hewett to help develop his fellow coaches in the Stags set-up in the hope one of them will be able to take over as head coach in the future.

Jason Kawau will remain as one of Hewett’s assistant coaches for 2018, while Hewett will lead the appointment of other members of his staff, including another assistant coach and the strength and conditioning coach.

● Meanwhile, Ben Herring is the new Otago coach. Herring, a former loose forward with Otago, Southland and Wellington, takes over from Cory Brown, who has moved to the Highlanders.

Herring has coached overseas and in New Zealand and has returned to Dunedin from a stint with the Sunwolves and Japanese national team.