Former ARU CEO and current Chairman of the North Harbour Rays Gary Flowers has had a lot on his mind recently as preparations continue for the upcoming NRC.
The North Harbour Rays have announced this week that Phil Blake has taken up a coaching opportunity with the Leicester Tigers.
Blake will finish the season as the head coach of Manly before going to the UK to become Leicester’s defence coach.
The Rays new coaching structure will be announced by the end of this week.
Blake said “I can honestly say that I am torn about heading to the UK but to be able to coach in the UK and experience competitions like the Heineken Cup could not be passed up”
“The Rays have a sound structure in place and I am sure the transition to the new coaching structure will be seamless”.
Chairman of the North Harbour Rays Gary Flowers did not appear to be stressed out by the coaching disruption and wished Blake well with his future endeavours.
“We’d have loved to have had Phil on board for the (NRC) ride but he’s always wanted to test his skills further up and that’s exactly what Leicester have presented him and we wish him well.
“The NRC and the Rays will always be a springboard to bigger and better opportunities for our players and coaches and that’s exactly what has happened in this case.”
Last week I caught up with Gary Flowers and asked him how the Rays were preparing for the upcoming season.
HA: What have been some challenges in forming a club from scratch? Or have you had taken aspects from the Central Coast Rays rugby club in 2007?
Gary Flowers: I think there’s certainly aspects of what was there back in 2007 and we’ve built on that but I think we’ve had to start again in many respects and build from the bottom up, build an infrastructure which is a very exciting opportunity to be involved with and all the clubs have done a spectacular job in getting right behind this and it couldn’t have happened without some terrific leadership in those clubs to grasp the opportunity and take it forward.
HA: What are some of your concerns about the upcoming NRC?
Gary Flowers: I think it’s been put together at a pretty rapid rate but I think having said that it’s good to get it up and running. So there are obliviously some bedding down issues around the player contracting issues, the bulbs getting a proper financial footing and getting the infrastructure up and running but I think we’re working very well with the ARU in trying to resolve those issues and I’m not only confident that the competition will go ahead in August but be a great success.
HA: In saying that, what are you excited about for the upcoming NRC?
Gary Flowers: I’m really excited about the opportunity it gives the players and coaches. It really allows the players to go to that next level. It gives them the opportunity to give them a feel about what professional rugby is all about. It gives them the opportunity to go up against contracted players and demonstrate their ability and skills and just like the last ARC when a number of players were discovered, it will discover a number of other new players as well and I’m really excited about being part of that competition which will identity new talent and develop new talent.
