Highlanders lands former Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd in mentoring role

• Respected coaches will be on hand to help Clarke Dermody
• ‘Buck stop’ with Dermody but Boyd will give ‘strong’ advice when needed
• The appointment reflects Boyd’s consulting role with English club Northampton

Highlanders have significantly increased their training resources by recruiting Chris Boyd as a mentor role for Clarke Dermody.

Boyd, 64, guided the Hurricanes to their only Super Rugby title in 2016 but left New Zealand in 2018 to join Northampton.

He was feared to lose the New Zealand game but the Highlanders have turned to Boyd to help Dermody as he begins his first year as head coach.

Speaking from England on Wednesday evening, New Zealand time, Boyd outlined his role with the impressive detail and honesty that marked his tenure at Hurricanes, while Dermody revealed that Boyd had helped him build his new coaching team.

The partnership bodes well for the Highlanders despite their apparent challenges, and after overseeing Super Rugby while in England, Boyd saw a lot of potential.

“When Clarke talked to me about the key strands, the DNA that would make up the Highlands, and we looked at what was important to him and I linked it to what I could do in the Northern Hemisphere with Northampton, and I went back and looked at the list…. I would be very disappointed if the Highlanders didn’t have significant growth in their game on the pitch,” Boyd said.

Boyd will still be based in Wellington but said he will spend about a week or two a month in Dunedin.

“I don’t think you can disengage from human interaction to get the right connections with people and understand organizational dynamics well,” he said. “There will be plenty of flying time from Wellington in a sizeable block.

INPHO/Rogan Thomson/Photosport

Chris Boyd has spent the last four years as rugby director with Northampton.

“My job is to support Derms and the group of coaches, and he gives me whatever project he wants me to do, then I can do it, but I can’t feel it through the screen. I have to be active on the pitch.”

Boyd will retain a consulting role with Northampton, but said much of the work will be done remotely.

“The Saints will likely make three trips north and the rest will stay connected. For example, all the meetings they have at the moment and the early pre-season and all their pre-season training they shoot videos and send them to me.”

Boyd’s stature and fresh eyes would be resources Dermody could draw on during his first year as head coach, but Boyd said the line of responsibility between the pair was very clear from the start.

“The first thing you need to understand is that I have no power or authority,” Boyd said. “Zero.

“So every decision made, I can advise Clarke. I can be quite pushy if I want to, or I can be as gentle as asking a few questions that might guide his thinking with a thought challenge to think in a slightly different way.

“But when it comes to decision making, maybe the only decision that may be involved is which week I go to Dunedin.

“When I’m on the pitch, If he wants me to do A, I’ll do A. If he wants me to deal with B, I’ll deal with B. If he wants my opinion on C, he will. get.

“We already have a pretty good understanding that we have to be strong and honest with each other, which I think we will.

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Highlanders head coach Clarke Dermody praised Chris Boyd’s appointment.

“So he’s going to get it in the stomach, not the back. But there is absolutely no power or authority in any position.”

Dermody said he was on the same page. “It’s keeping an eye on the impending speed bumps that the young coach may not have seen but that Chris saw,” said Dermody.

“He can help steer us through that. He’s here for advice, he’s not here to lead the program. So, well and truly money stops with me, but being able to use Chris and the other trainers to help out would be invaluable throughout the year.

The Highlanders still have the gap to fill their coaching team for 2023, although Otago coach Tom Donnelly looks like an outstanding candidate to take on the vacant forward role.

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