Two new Hurricanes in town
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:35
Jono Phillips and Alama Ieremia have been appointed to the Hurricanes' coaching team for next season, to work alongside head coach Colin Cooper.
Phillips, the former Scotland A and Scotland Under-21 coach, is currently a technical advisor to the Hurricanes and also works as the Talent Identification and Development Manager for the franchise.
He will take up the role of assistant coach for 2009 and 2010, and continue to work in the region during the off-season, with primary responsibility for the Three Winds Programme and Hurricanes Schools.
Cooper and Phillips will be joined by Ieremia, who will assume the role of Technical Advisor (attack).
Ieremia needs no introduction as former All Black and Hurricane, while he also spent seven years with Suntory in Japan - four as a player and three as a coach.
More recently he was the Assistant Coach for the 2007 Wellington Lions.
Ieremia's appointment with the Hurricanes will be between November and June. Outside of this period he will continue to be employed by the Wellington Rugby Union (WRU) and will coach one of its representative teams.
Cooper was thrilled with these two appointments.
"I'm really excited about working with Jono and Alama, who both have a great deal to bring to the Hurricanes environment," Cooper said.
"They are both developing into top class coaches and are able to draw upon different experiences from their work overseas, which will be invaluable to us.
"These are major appointments for us and I'm delighted that we have been able to secure two coaches who are so highly respected by the players.
"We have already discovered that we have very similar views on the direction we would like to take this group of players and that shared vision will be vital to our success in 2009 and beyond."
Phillips said of his appointment: "I'm looking forward to this opportunity to work with the team in a new role with added responsibility. This will be my fourth season with the Hurricanes and I feel I have a good understanding of the team and the environment.
"Last year I was responsible for the defence and for skills work, as well as a being a selector, and I will continue with those responsibilities going forward. We are currently viewing all four of the region's Air New Zealand Cup provinces, spending time with the players and coaches as we work towards finalising the Hurricanes squad for next year.
Ieremia was also delighted with this new challenge.
"I'm very excited by this opportunity and the most important thing is that I feel I have something to offer," Ieremia said.
"The Hurricanes have always showed a lot of promise to go all the way and hopefully we can help the boys see it through to the end.
"Colin Cooper is very well-respected, by other coaches and by players, and one of the key factors for me is having the chance to learn from his experience."
