Northland Sevens

[Steven Harris]

Was passed on some great news for Northland 7s Rugby.
Eric Rush and Craig De Goldi both former NZ sevens legends will be assisting head coach Denny Windleborn with this year’s Northlands 7s program..Rush has already identified several extremely promising athletes including Kaikohe openside flanker Bodene Davis whom Rush believes is good enough to progress moving forward to NZ Sevens...

[taniwharugby]

@Steven-Harris is he the guy that took over last year?

I had heard Tony Monaghan had tried for the top job last year but was overlooked, then they asked him if he could help out the guy they appointed.

[Steven Harris]

@taniwharugby apparently so, I heard that Tony Monaghan had applied for the job..Craig De Goldi has moved up North and lives up in Waimate North.
Rush also has 2 sons that will be part of the program..
From what I understand, Verner Horne a South African first five who has played for the cheetahs has also made himself available for the Northland sevens program..seen a video of him, looks very sharp.

[J77]

@Steven-Harris Denny Windlebourn will be third spoke in the wheel with those two. Good news for Northland rugby. Hopefully they identify some good talent and filters up to the 15’s.

[Gunner]

Great news about Rush, he'll bring a real Mana to the 7's team.

Sounds like some promising players are on the horizon too.

Have spoken to and heard of other notable former Northland players that have put their hands up to help out in various areas, but have been given the thanks but no thanks. Seems bloody strange to me, surely we should be encouraging people with that kind of experience and knowledge to improve rugby up here, not turning it away?

[taniwharugby]

@Gunner yeah I gotta say NRU seem to have gone backwards in the past couple of years with alot of thier off-field stuff, was a period we seemed to be moving in the right direction on and off, albeit slowly, not anymore.

[J77]

@Gunner is it arrogance or plain dumbness as to why these former Northland players are getting turned away?

I was shocked when Windleborn got the nod over Tony Monaghan. Ironically the Northland 7’s crashed to their worst finish in some time last season. Go figure.

NRU need to pull their heads out of their backsides and plan properly and wisely.