Pakuranga Rugby Club is proud to announce the appointments of Mark Thomas, Sani Sanileva and Jarrod Firth as Under 21 coaches for 2022. 

Director of Rugby Grant ‘Boof’ Henson said with the quality of players at the club and in East Auckland schools it was really important to get a strong coaching team together. 

Mark or Thomo as you may know him is Deputy Principal at Howick College and a current club member who coached the Howick 1st XV to the 1B title in 2021. 

Sani has been involved with the 1st XV programme at Macleans College and this year was co-coach of the Marist Under 21s who won the Auckland title. 

Jarrod is a former professional player who is coming into his first year of coaching. He played for Counties Manukau, the Chiefs as well professionally in England and France. 

“I think this is a pretty exciting group of coaches. Both Thomo and Sani have great connections in the local community and have proven to be impressive emerging coaches. 

“With the talent we have within the club, and the players that will be graduating from local schools, I am confident we will have a really strong Under 21s programme,” said Boof. 

Mark said he is looking forward to seeing players from local schools playing in Pakuranga colours in 2022. 

“As a coaching group we are going to drive high standards, be professional in how we approach training and games and give that title a really good run. We want to develop good young men on and off the field and that is something I am really excited about.” 

Sani, who played for Pakuranga and lives in Eastern Beach said he has been impressed with the talent in East Auckland. 

“I’m looking forward to jumping on board at Pakuranga, we’ve got an awesome coaching and management team which means we can focus on developing players. As a coach, I like to see players succeed, whatever it is that success means to them.” 

Jarrod is joining Pakuranga for the first time and is excited about linking with the club. 

“The biggest thing for young players looking to go forward and develop their rugby is getting a good foundation with your skillset and that is where you need quality coaches around you, I think we’ve got that with this coaching group.” 

Earlier in the week, the club announced Cole Mooney coming on board as premier head coach. The remainder of the premier coaching team, along with other senior team coaches will be announced in the coming months.

Article added: Thursday 23 September 2021