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Ex-All Blacks hooker Dane Coles confirms new coaching gig

Former All Blacks hooker Dane Coles (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The Wellington Lions have announced that former All Black Dane Coles will join as a spot coach for the 2024 Bunnings Warehouse NPC competition.

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Coles – who debuted for the Lions in 2007 and earned 71 caps – is a well-known figure in Wellington rugby.

Born and raised in the region, Coles has spent his entire domestic career with Poneke, the Lions, and the Hurricanes. The club say his addition to the coaching staff brings extensive experience and a deep connection to Wellington rugby.

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“Wellington has given me so much throughout my career, and for me to give back to the game and the Union that started it all is a no brainer really,” says Coles.

“I’ve got some great memories with the Lions. My time in the black and yellow jersey is done, but I’m excited to direct my energy and efforts into coaching and hopefully giving back to the next generation of players.”

Wellington Lions Head Coach Alando Soakai welcomed the new addition.

“I first reached out to Colesy and asked whether he was keen to play. He mentioned coaching, and the rest is history.”

“We know he’s got a lot of knowledge to pass onto the next generation of hookers, and we’re lucky to have him. For him to offer some of his time to us, is a testament to his incredible character, and his love for the Lions, the team that started it all.”

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WRFU CEO Tony Giles shared these sentiments, adding “We’re honoured that Colesy has offered up his time to move into a spot coaching role with us. The level of talent and mana that he’ll bring to the table is huge, and we’re excited to see what our coaching group will achieve this season.”

The Wellington Lions will start their season against Auckland at Eden Park on Friday the 9th of August.

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J
JW 6 hours ago
Western Force and ACT Brumbies looking for signs of progress in Super Rugby Pacific

Yeah, that’s what I was referring to too. You know in that situation the kind of things that form your picture of NRL or A league etc disappear in the case of kiwi rugby supporters, where they believe they have that advantage over aus rugby.


I have to put my hand up here. While I can see the reasoning behind a much better Reds, and even though they were good enough to win against the top 3 last year, I still don’t see them climbing (places) like you’d expect (all fair and reasonable points aside I mean).


But yes, I asked that because I do find aussie rugby supporters unique in this example of pragmatism. Look, I still think the circumstances dictate that it is why there isn’t more support for rugby in aus (they would need to win more like anything), but it is a) the kind of outlook that made my try to think of the SR standings in a way unassociated to nationality, and b) something that should be captured somehow and adopted by everyone.


Because I have no doubt SR died because of nationalism. Here, like with your above example, all there were for years were complaints of how better kiwi teams weren’t getting a deserved finals ranking. Now while the whole topic is complicated to get right, to have it get to the point where one side almost wants to kill it off and drive the otherside away is just not healthy.


I honestly think there are really easy things to do that could resolve the problem (if aus rugby culture couldn’t be copied/spread lol) like having even just a few players in each others teams. SR’s getting by right now because aussies population is so big there are still enough core fans that can have your outlook (though that survey said nearly a third also support another country?), but everything changes, and if the shoe is on the other foot at some time in the future I’d imagine that problem would “remain“ just long enough that NZ wouldn’t be able to “get by”.


There are just so many sports like SR that don’t have a parity system and end up with this sort of predictability that must be hard to ignore and get excited about. That its not down to something simple like being the richest is irrelevant. Visiting Japan it was really interesting to see how they had become supporters of these particular top sides. What do Canadians think about the Stanley Cup going to teams out of Law Vegas and Florida?

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