Herring pushing boundaries
WHEN Ben Herring was playing rugby, the last thing he thought he would do is what he has ended up doing.
Herring was forced to give the game up at the age of 29 in England when he suffered one head knock too many.
The rest of his body was also wonky and feeling sore. He was playing for Leicester in England when he decided enough was enough.
‘‘Going into coaching was not planned at all. I never thought I would go down that route,’’ he said.
‘‘When I was playing I thought I would finish playing and get a Kombi van and travel around the world for a while,’’ he said.
Herring finished at Leicester and was approached to be a skills coach with the club. So for the next two seasons — about 60 matches — he helped out with players and was on the sideline for some big games such as Heineken Cup finals and premiership games.
‘‘I decided to give it a good crack and I loved it from the outset. Just wanted to get right into it.’’
Herring (38) then took off to Japan and coached at NEC with Greg Cooper.
‘‘I wanted to push the boundaries, experience whole different cultures and places and see where that leads me.’’
After Japan he went to Canada and was involved in its national and sevens programme before coming back to New Zealand and Dunedin, where he coached at the Highlanders and Otago in 2016. It was then back to Japan for about 18 months, involved with the national side and the Sunwolves.
But with a fourth child on the way and not spending much time at home, Herring returned to New Zealand and got the coaching gig at Otago, a team he never actually played for, having played for Southland while studying at the University of Otago.
He admits he has picked up lots of tips and insights over his time.
‘‘The big thing I have learned over the years is that everyone is different. We talk about culture but that can be a hard thing to define. It is a whole lot of things. Like getting involved. It is not like work, it is not a chore, it is easy to get out of bed in the morning. You are punctual, you have respect for each other. There is good chat among each other.
‘‘It’s pretty invisible stuff really. Not the sort of stuff where you can tick off a couple of boxes. But I know a rugby team is not an army. You’ve got to get the balance right. The thing about coaching rugby is everyone responds to different stimulus.’’
As a coach, Herring is not a yeller and did not know how he could be defined.
In New Zealand, coaching was very much playerdriven as players knew plenty about the game and coaches supported that.
When he went to Japan the first time he said the biggest lesson was what was working for him in England did not work in Japan as players and people were different.
Different strokes for different folks — that seems to be the catchcry.
As for ambitions for this season when he will assisted by Tom Donnelly, Ryan Martin and skills coach Kane Jury, the Auckland Grammar old boy said nothing changed.
‘‘I always aim for the stars. I’m really looking forward to it. Getting the processes right, getting the game plan right and gelling as a team. I know we will be judged on results and that is fair enough. But you need to provide the team with the right support and players to grow.
‘‘Coaching is just a really good place to grow. There are not many other professions where you are able to get feedback every day. And it is great preparation for fatherhood.’’
SYDNEY: The All Blacks are making no secret of intentions to exploit the Wallabies’ inexperience at centre in Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup opener in Sydney.
In the absence of injured regulars Samu Kerevi and Tevita Kuridrani, the Wallabies do not have a specialist option for a position which poses many challenges in defence.
Utility Reece Hodge is expected to fill the No 13 spot while fullback Israel Folau is another option.
All Black assistant coach Ian Foster also threw up utility Matt
Toomua’s name yesterday before the selection of the Wallabies team tomorrow.
‘‘We’re pretty interested who turns up and they’ve got some good options there, but certainly it’s not the easiest thing to get right defending at 13,’’ Foster said.
‘‘It’s going to be a little bit of a challenge whether it’s Hodge or Toomua or whichever way they go. It’s going to be a slightly new combination.
‘‘I’m sure they will be working hard to make sure that they learn pretty quickly but I guess we’re going to have to ask some questions, aren’t we?’’
The All Blacks also have a midfield vacancy to fill in the absence of second fiveeighth Sonny Bill Williams but they can call on ultrareliable Ryan Crotty.
Like Australia, they are considering playing backs in different positions to their Super Rugby spots, particularly winger Rieko Ioane, who played second fiveeighth for the Blues and fullback Jordie Barrett, who played centre for the Hurricanes.
Foster said the All Blacks always felt some nervousness going into their first Bledisloe and Rugby Championship test of the year.
‘‘We’ve got a lot of respect for the Wallabies. We know how much this trophy means to both countries,’’ he said.
He thought the Wallabies would take confidence out of their June series against Six Nations champion Ireland.
‘‘They certainly looked like they’d taken some steps forward in terms of their understanding of what they are doing, so I’m assuming that’s their plan to keep growing and it’s got to be ours,’’ Foster said.
‘‘We did some nice things in June [against France] and we had some moments that weren’t quite so nice, though I thought we finished strong.
‘‘But it seems in the distant past, to be honest, and now we’re into a championship that’s pretty special for us, playing for a trophy that’s pretty special.
‘‘We know the bar is going to have to go up and up. It will from both teams.’’ — AAP