A big part of IRANZ future is spreading the development of Rugby around the globe. For over 12 years we have nurtured International players at our New Zealand facilities. The game has grown over recent years, and there has been real demand to outsource our world class coaching staff in the form of customised courses to foreign nations.
This has created a new opportunity and we are currently holding clinics for coaches and players in the US. This time it is in Houston, Austin and Dallas Texas, which is uncharted territory for The International Rugby Academy.
The IRANZ coaching staff for this course are the creme of New Zealand Rugby, in the form of Jamie Joseph (Highlanders & former NZ Maori coach), Dave Rennie (Super Rugby Champion Chiefs & former NZ U20 coach), along with IRANZ Managing Director Murray Mexted. They have just completed two of the US clinics and the IRANZ staff have been exposed to a significant range of players, most of whom have only been playing rugby for 3 or 4 years. Murray believes these players “have been starved of good technical coaching”. This highlights the real need for consistent coaching courses with the quality of coaching that IRANZ offers.
Despite the lack of quality coaching exposure, all three coaches see a real willingness to learn and the positive attitude of all participants has provided a good environment for player and coach development.
For IRANZ it is another rugby frontier and one which is full of surprises. The US is indeed the land of opportunity.
