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Ex-All Blacks and Wallabies coach named Fijian Drua head coach
Former All Blacks and Wallabies skills coach Mick Byrne has been unveiled as head coach of the Fijian Drua for their inaugural season in Super Rugby Pacific.
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Byrne was revealed as the Drua’s new head coach on a Fiji Rugby press conference on Friday, with the 62-year-old signing a two-year deal with the expansion franchise.
The Drua’s acquisition of Byrne is a significant coup given his experience not only as a professional rugby coach, but also as a player in the Victorian Football League, now known as the AFL, between 1977 and 1989.
A rangy ruckman for Melbourne, Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans, Bryne applied his knowledge of kicking as an Australian footballer to a coaching career in rugby union.
Since crossing football codes, Byrne, who won the VFL Premiership with Hawthorn in 1983, has gone on to coach various teams at both international and Super Rugby level.
During his time with the All Blacks, Byrne won two World Cups as skills coach over a decade-long period between 2005 and 2015.
He then cross the ditch to return to his native Australia in 2016, where assumed the same role with the Wallabies until last January after having previously working for the side as a kicking coach in 1998.
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Byrne was also an assistant coach for the Blues between 2012 and 2014 and Japan between 2009 and 2011, both times of which he was responsible for the forwards, the breakdown, skills and kicking, and has been part of the Scottish coaching set-up.
More recently, Byrne has held roles as the director of rugby at Austin Gilgronis in Major League Rugby and led the Canadian women’s sevens team to the Tokyo Olympics last month after having worked as a consultant for the team since 2012.
The acquisition of Byrne comes after the Drua announced they had signed the first five players for their 2022 Super Rugby Pacific squad on Monday.
Those players were Tokyo Olympics gold medallist Napolioni Bolaca, one-test hooker Tevita Ikanivere, Bay of Plenty wing Onisi Ratave, experienced loose forward Nemani Nagusa and two-test halfback Simione Kuruvoli.
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Bryne will be assisted by Nacanieli Cawanibuka, who was also confirmed as the Drua’s head of athletic performance after having previously worked for Fiji’s national sevens side.
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
4 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
4 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
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