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Mauger set for Highlanders role
By Peter Thompson
Highlanders have appointed former Leicester Tigers interim boss Aaron Mauger as assistant coach for the next two Super Rugby seasons.
Mauger was sacked by Premiership side Leicester in March, just a day after his side won the Anglo-Welsh Cup.
The former New Zealand centre has now agreed to return to his homeland in a new era for the 2015 champions, with head coach Tony Brown set to link up with Japan at the end of the current campaign.
Ex-Crusaders assistant coach Mauger said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to be joining the Highlanders next season.
"The club have worked extremely hard over the last four to five years in particular to create an environment that allows the people and the team to perform at their best and to the highest levels.
"I feel very privileged to be joining the club and to be in a position on the coaching staff where I can help add to the fantastic structure put in place and help grow the team and club to achieve future success."
Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark stated: "With the departure of Tony Brown at the end of the season we were on the lookout for another quality attack coach for the next few years.
"I know the whole club are absolutely thrilled that Aaron has chosen the Highlanders as the next step in his coaching career. Coaches of his ability are keenly sought after globally and to retain his services is excellent news.
"We perceive a really good fit for him here at the Highlanders and it will renew the emphasis our club has put on playing innovative and exciting rugby."
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Latest Comments
GB is England, Scotland, Wales. They are the 3 constituent countries in Great Britain. Ergo playing only those three countries is a tour of GB. The difference between GB and the UK is Northern Ireland. It's not a huge deal to be accurate and call places by their correct name. But please refrain from your idiotic attempts to BS that GB=UK. It doesn't.
Go to commentsThe 2023 draw was only criticized when it became apparent that the top 5 sides in the world were on the same side of the draw. Nowhere did they discuss the decision to backtrack to 2019 rankings which ensured that England and Wales (ranked #12 in 2023) were ranked top4.
The parties who trashed out the schedule were England Rugby, NZ Rugby and ITV. It is bordering on corrupt that a Rugby nation has the power to schedule its opponents to play a major match the week before facing them in a QF.
You won't find commentary by members of the relevant committees because a committee did not make the scheduling decision. I have never heard members of World Rugby speak out on the draw or scheduling issues.
For example in 2015 Japan were hammered by Scotland 4 days after beating SA. The criticism only happens after a cock up.
A fair pool schedule is pretty straightforward: The lowest two tanked teams must play on last pool day but not against each other. That means that TV can focus on promoting big matches with a Tier2 involved for that Friday.
Why does NZ Always get its preferred slot playing the hardest pool match on day 1?
Why do other teams eg France, Ireland, Scotland get so often scheduled to play a hard match the week before the QFs?
If you believe the rules around scheduling are transparent then please point me in the right direction?
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