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Highlanders unveil Clarke Dermody as Tony Brown's replacement as head coach
The Highlanders have announced long-serving assistant coach Clarke Dermody as the franchise’s new head coach in the wake of Tony Brown’s departure to Japan.
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Brown has left the Highlanders following a three-year stint with the franchise – his second spell as a coach at his former side – to concentrate fully on his role as Japan assistant coach.
As such, the Highlanders have moved to lock in Dermody as Brown’s replacement on a three-year deal after having acted as an assistant at the Dunedin-based side since 2014, when he joined the team as a scrum coach under former boss Jamie Joseph.
During his time as a scrum coach, Dermody helped the Highlanders reach the 2014 Super Rugby playoffs, breaking a 15-year post-season drought in doing so.
The 42-year-old part of the coaching set-up when the Highlanders won their first, and only, Super Rugby title to date the following year, and when they famously defeated the British & Irish Lions in 2017.
His role within the franchise has since grown, moving up the ranks to become forwards coach before taking now taking the reins as head coach.
Dermody’s appointment comes after the former three-test All Blacks prop took charge of the Highlanders during last year’s Super Rugby Trans-Tasman campaign in the absence of Brown, who was tied up with Brave Blossoms commitments.
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In that series, Dermody led the Highlanders through an unbeaten run against Australian opposition to qualify for the final, where they were ultimately defeated by the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland.
On the back of a dismal Super Rugby Pacific campaign, where they won just four out of 14 regular season matches before being walloped by the Blues in the quarter-finals, Dermody has a large task at hand to turn the fortunes of the Highlanders around.
However, the former two-time NPC title-winning Tasman co-coach is optimistic he can deliver success in his new role at the franchise.
“When I started with the Highlanders in 2014 it wasn’t with the purpose of someday being the head coach, I was just happy to get the opportunity to be involved with a club I have a genuine attachment with,” Dermody said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Over the last ten years or so that attachment has only strengthened through the good times and bad.
“I believe in the club and the region it represents, I believe in the team and the players we have, and I believe that we can achieve success if we work hard and work smart.
“To get the opportunity to lead the team and coaching group is an honour and I am certainly looking forward to the hard work involved in putting together our 2023 season.”
Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark added that he was confident that they had hired the right man for the job, and that Dermody’s first port of call would be to build a roster and assemble a coaching group for next year’s Super Rugby Pacific.
“Clarke has served his apprenticeship with this club in every sense, firstly as a player and then as a coach,” Clark said.
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“He understands this club and the region we represent well. He has demonstrated his ability as a head coach with Tasman and when he took over during Super Rugby Trans-Tasman last season.
“He has shown he can get the best out of the people around him and we have faith in that ability to lead our club over the next few years.
“The appointment of Clarke is the first step; we are confident of assembling a coaching group that will drive consistent improvement in our team.
“We feel we have a playing group that has the potential to improve, and we just need to bring it to the fore week-to-week.”
New Zealand Rugby general manager of professional rugby and performance Chris Lendrum, meanwhile, was equally optimistic about Dermody’s appointment as the new Highlanders head coach.
“The Highlanders club are a proud club with ambitions to pursue greater success on the field in coming seasons and Clarke is the ideal person to lead the team into battle,” Lendrum said.
“His character, rugby knowledge from his storied playing career, and considerable coaching experience will be an asset, and his strong ties to the Highlanders region will be inspiring to the players who wear the club’s jersey over the next three years.”
The rest of the Highlanders coaching group, believed to be a team of five, is expected to be announced within the next month.
Comments on RugbyPass
late hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
4 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
24 Go to comments