Innovative Harris sets sights on target areas

Rich Harris may be the new face at Tasman rugby headquarters in Blenheim, but he’s a familiar face on the Marlborough sporting scene.

The 28-year-old was last month appointed by the Tasman union to a two-year contract as Rugby Development officer with responsibility for Marlborough. He’s no stranger to those parts, having played premier rugby for the Harlequins club in 2013 as a lively outside back and brings experience, both at home and abroad, to his new role.

Last year the Christchurchborn, St Andrews College-educated Harris completed a one year coaching contract with the Qingdao Sharks Rugby Club in China. Before that he graduated from Canterbury University with a sports coaching degree, worked in the fitness industry for two years before taking on the role of head tutor at the Marlborough Sports Academy, which closed down at the end of 2013.

Harris has been playing rugby and involved with the game since he was 4, in Banks Peninsula. ‘‘I absolutely love my footy,’’ he said. ‘‘When I was at university, I did my sports coaching degree and specialised in rugby, so hopefully, I would end up going down that pathway.’’

He relished the chance to test his coaching skills in Qingdao, a city of eight million, saying, ‘‘it was a very good experience’’.

‘‘There’s always that language barrier, which is a bit of a challenge. There were a couple of Chinese coaches who could speak English so that made my life a little easier, but a lot of my time was spent developing the club. [Qingdao] had teams in various age grades but it was about getting more numbers involved . . . similar to this role, just increasing participation.

‘‘When I arrived they started off with 10 schools involved, by the time I finished up they had 16. So there was a really good improvement. We also created some club structure and an on-going review process.’’

Back in Blenheim in his new role, Harris sees the under-16 and under-18 age group as a ‘‘grey area’’ that needs work. ‘‘I’m going to give [that area] 100 per cent. Also building the foundations . . . working with the JAB to get a lot of kids on board, showing them what rugby is, getting them playing and creating a snowball effect.’’

With this in mind, Harris has a few innovations he would like to try. ‘‘I’m looking to get some noncompetitive sevens involved, perhaps on a social basis on Friday night, covering that under-16, under-18 grade. Just to get those guys into playing the game. We are looking to see if it is feasible.’’

Harris replaces Chris Goodman, who is now Crusaders Academy manager in Nelson.