Highlanders recruit Canty coach
The Highlanders have recruited Glenn Delaney as their defence coach for the next two years.
Delaney, who is in his first season of coaching Canterbury in the Mitre 10 Cup after previously working for a number of clubs in the United Kingdom, has been wooed south by new Highlanders coach Aaron Mauger.
With Scott McLeod having been recruited by the All Blacks, as a replacement for defence coach Wayne Smith after the Rugby Championship, Mauger had to go shopping and eventually settled on an assistant who currently works in his old home town of Christchurch.
Mauger, who had previously coached at English club Leicester, was familiar with how Delaney, who most recently worked at the London Irish club, operated.
‘‘Glenn had established a great reputation in the UK over the years and I occasionally used his expertise when I was with Leicester,’’ Mauger said. ‘‘He will make a great addition to our coaching group with his knowledge and ability to get the best out of players.
‘‘Scotty McLeod has done great work with the team over the last few seasons and I want Glenn to grow that foundation and make defence a real strength of our game. I am stoked that the timing was right and he was available to do the job.’’
Joe Maddock, who is currently working as Delaney’s assistant, will take over as Canterbury head coach in 2018.
‘‘Clearly we are disappointed to see Glenn moving on after just one season, he has made a strong impact on the playing group in his short time here,’’ Canterbury CEO Nathan Godfrey said. ‘‘But we fully understand that our Canterbury coaches are highly valued and we respect Glenn’s desire to test his skills at Super Rugby level.’’
The arrival of Delaney at the Highlanders means they will have a coaching staff with a background of playing and coaching in Canterbury. Forwards coach Mark Hammett is a former Crusaders and Canterbury player and Jon Preston, a skills coach, also played for Canterbury.
Delaney was expected to bed in for several seasons at Canterbury, but is committed to finishing the season with the province.
‘‘I am loving working with this Canterbury team and I did not anticipate that my time here would be so short,’’ Delaney said.
‘‘But coaching at Super Rugby level has been a career goal of mine so this opportunity is too good to pass up. I feel excited for the future of the Canterbury team under Joe’s leadership because I have seen first hand what an excellent coach he is an just how passionate he is about this team. Right now Joe and I are both fully focused on reaching our goals with the current Canterbury team and enjoying this 2017 season, and after that we will be able to start looking forward to our new challenges.’’
Born in Timaru, Delaney left New Zealand as a 19-year-old lock/ No 8 to play in Japan and further stints in France and the UK followed. He met his English wife Claire while overseas and retired from playing in 2004 after playing 66 games for the London Irish club. His first coaching position was with Nottingham where he was the head coach then director of rugby, before returning to London Irish in 2012 as their forwards coach. He later became head coach and then rugby operations manager.
Highlanders CEO Roger Clark said he was pleasantly surprised that a coach with so much inter- national experience was available so close to home.
‘‘When we set out to find a new defence coach we were aware that it might be a global search to find the right candidate,’’ he said. ‘‘Ironically almost all of Glenn’s coaching experience is offshore but in a stroke of good fortune for us he landed up right under our nose just a few hours up the road. This is a great appointment for our club and I am sure all our players will benefit from Glenn’s experience’’.