New Otago coach in it to win it
Championship
THE Highlanders are not rushing to appoint a head coach but say they have some very capable candidates in house.
Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark said yesterday with preseason not kicking off until January the franchise would take its time appointing a head coach.
‘‘From our perspective we are pretty comfortable at the moment. We have got a very capable group of guys in Browny [Tony Brown], Derms [Clarke Dermody] and Riki Flutey,’’ he said.
‘‘So what we need to do now is complement them with a defence coach. Someone who can come into that structure and work with these guys.’’
Clark said it was wrong to assume Brown was set to take on the head coaching role.
Brown was heavily involved in recruitment of players at the moment, but it could be the new defence coach who came in could become head coach. That was a discussion to have later and they had no set date to have the coaching setup for next year decided.
‘‘We just want the best people for the jobs. More and more options are appearing for us every day. More and more people want to come back to New Zealand. We just need to speak to some of these people and see where they stand.’’
The franchise would be content with four coaches for next season. It may look at bringing in spot coaches for short periods and that had worked well in the past.
Brown was contracted as assistant coach to Japan until the next World Cup. But with Covid19 cutting all international travel, Brown was still in Dunedin and Japan does not have any games scheduled for the rest of the year.
Clark said Brown’s schedule worked in fine with the Highlanders as he would be available for the Highlanders in the first part of the year when Japan was not playing.
‘‘Browny has been here for a long time and he has got plenty going on, working hard on recruiting and is involved in the process of getting players.’’
He did not wish to comment on the departure of head coach Aaron Mauger. Mauger left the Highlanders last week after three years as head coach.
With the Mitre 10 Cup not finishing until the middle of November and the All Blacks — if they turn out — playing well into December, next season’s preseason for Super Rugby teams will not start until January. The squads usually train for a month before Christmas.
The start of next season would be at the end of February at this stage.
That would bring a shorter preseason than usual, but that was not a bad thing, Clark said.
He said Super Rugby
Aotearoa showed players could be ready for competition with a shorter preseason than normal.
What form the Super Rugby competition would take next year had yet to be decided and may change depending on the border situation.
It was hoped an announcement on the structure of the season would be released by Sanzaar and NZ Rugby over the next few days.
Clark confirmed Otago captain Michael Collins would be back at the Highlanders next year. Collins, an Otago product who played well for the side in the Super Rugby Aotearoa competition, had not been signed at the end of the season last month.
TOM Donnelly came down to Dunedin 20 years ago with no real plan mapped out.
He had enrolled in a surveying degree, coming fresh out of Rotorua Boys’ High School. It was simply time to be a student and play a bit of rugby on the side.
He ended up getting the degree, but the only thing he is surveying these days is a rugby paddock.
After a lengthy career on the field, Donnelly has moved into coaching. After three years as assistant coach with Otago he has now stepped up to the head coaching role.
‘‘When I finished playing in 2017 I sort of looked around and thought about maybe going back to surveying. But I hadn’t really done any of it since I was at Uni. It would have been like 15 years I would have had to catch up on,’’ Donnelly said.
Rugby won out and he has begun a coaching career which has made some real progress in three short years.
Donnelly was playing in France when he decided to hang up the boots. He had played 98 games of Super Rugby, 82 games for Otago and 15 tests for the All Blacks. It was a good career, but it had come to an end.
He looked around, saw Otago was on the lookout for an assistant coach and that sparked his interest. He applied and surprised himself by getting the gig. Within six weeks he was back in Dunedin and being the forwards coach for the blue and golds.
After three seasons the 38yearold has now moved up to the big job, one he is looking forward to immensely.
‘‘I have learnt some good stuff from the very best coaches and picked up on. I’ve also learnt some bad stuff from other coaches which you don’t want to follow.
‘‘But you’ve got to follow your own path. Obviously, I love the game and all around it.
‘‘The best thing for me is the camaraderie which is through the game. You are with a good bunch of mates who you get to hang around with most of the time. That is the reason I played and now I still get to experience that but don’t have a sore body all the time.’’
Donnelly, who is married to Jacque and has three children, Harvey (7), daughter Charlie (4) and Felix (6 months), said 2020 had obviously been a challenging year, but he had just worked through it.
‘‘Really, with Otago we are sort of used to that. Having to manage with what you’ve got and just getting on with it. That is the attitude we have carried on with, and all that has been going on.’’
The former lock forward said Otago had come together well and the squad was enjoying its time together before the season started.
The Mitre 10 Cup was undoubtedly a tough competition and would be even more so this year as All Blacks littered the competition. Otago does not have any at the moment, but Donnelly is not using that as any excuse.
Otago is one of only two teams
— Northland is the other — which has been stuck in the lower Championship since the provincial competition went to a two division system in 2011.
‘‘There is no hiding from it. We want to win the thing. That is what you go out and try and do every season.’’