Helping lead Coast in right direction

Ngati Porou East Coast technical adviser Kim Harris says a great attitude and work ethic by the players had made his job easier under challenging circumstances. “The team are like a big, happy family.” Picture by Liam Clayton

Kim Harris’s first sporting love will always be rugby.

And the man who, with the late Poverty Bay men’s captain Garry Thompson, coached the Gisborne Boys’ High School first 15 who won the Moascar Cup in 1993 and the Condor 7s, Bank of Queensland 7s,  intercollegiate world cup and national Top 4 in 1994, has had two great years as technical adviser to the Ngāti Porou East Coast Kaupoi.

Harris joined the Sky Blues set-up in 2022 — when Hosea Gear was head coach — after a conversation with former All Black Gear and New Zealand Rugby board member Bailey Mackey.

The Coast won the Heartland Championship’s Lochore Cup (fifth to eight playoffs) under Gear in 2022.

Gear stepped aside this year to become the union’s first director of rugby and Harris continued in his role under new head coach and former Kaupoi Kahu Tamatea.

“The role as technical adviser is to keep an eye on players’ basic rugby skills,” said Harris, a former first five-eighth for Gisborne High School Old Boys and Poverty Bay representative No.808 in 1972.

“That also means making sure that practice covers the things that need to be covered.

“We had good people around the team working hard, often in difficult conditions and with limited time,” Harris said.

“It was gratifying to witness a community invigorated and defined by a rugby team and the culture surrounding it. The success the team had was widely appreciated and celebrated.

“There were Ngāti Porou supporters wherever we played — Gisborne, Otane, Whangaparaoa, Masterton, Ruatoria, Westport, Whanganui, Waihi and Timaru this season — and when we played away from home, the local fans were inquisitive, and had many questions about the boys, the Coast and how we managed.

“Sometimes they seemed a little surprised that we were quite worldly . . . all of our men were working men who contributed. Many of them were good family men and had supportive wives and partners.

“The team are like a big, happy family. Everyone saw it as an honour to be selected for, or even just be around, the team.

“It was an iconic moment for any one of them when they were first handed the Sky Blue jersey. Togetherness was total in the two years I’ve been involved.”

Harris spoke of the challenges and structures necessary to get the best out of players who came together virtually on the eve of Heartland Championship matches.

“We had to be smart with our time. Training sessions were broken into segments — set-piece, tackling, handling and passing and coaching points that were thrown up by the previous game or that the players felt needed additional work.

“Sometimes we would have only a few minutes to address these but the players had a great attitude and worked very hard, moving rapidly from one activity to another.

“In terms of the team staff during the past two seasons, Wiremu Kaa was the cultural adviser, Morgan Wirepa Jnr was assistant coach and Laman Davies was a scrum coach who was keen to increase his knowledge.

“The ability to keep learning is as important for a coach as the players he works with, so that the information is handed on.

“Lily MacDonald was our physiotherapist in 2022; Kobi Pohe had that role in 2023.

“Black Fern Charmaine McMenamin, who was recovering from an injury, was the performance analyst. She reviewed game footage every week and worked closely with the coaches and players.

“Chief executive LeRoy Kururangi and his son Braxton were our managers — a big job — and our husband-and-wife pair of Jamie and Alana Karehana also deserve great credit.

“Jamie was our strength and conditioning coach. He got on to all of the players at the beginning of the week, was honest with them and helped them. As a result they were — across the board — in amazing physical condition.

“Alana, our nutritionist, gave the players the information they needed to make good choices. She was instrumental in changing attitudes around those things.

“At our best, we had a game based on aggressive defence, short passes to keep the ball alive and runners coming on to the ball from depth. This could develop further.

“Our lineout and scrum were good, and never bested when all of the forwards were well.

“We were rarely the taller lineout but we made excellent use of a good variety of calls.

“Former Maori All Black Mitchell Crosswell played No.8 or blindside flanker for us and ran the lineout. He was influential within the team, experienced and clever.

”Our former Samoan international Faifili Levave, who also played at No.8, was a terrific bloke but not always available.

“Hooker Joe Royal, another Maori All Black, who turned out for Moana Pasifika during the season, is a fine man and still a top player. He was knowledgeable and a good communicator with an even temperament. He set high standards.

“These guys who had played the game at international, Super Rugby and National Provincial Championship level were complemented by a hard-nosed group of forwards based on the Coast, and also off the Coast for work reasons.

“Of the backs, Verdon Bartlett — who played on the left wing and off the bench for us — was a genuine bloke who brought up 101 games for us this season, while first-five Te Rangi Fraser could be brilliant.

“Last year, Carlos Kemp (19) was also a success in that position. Keen to improve, he was a huge contributor who kicked goals from all over the park.

“In 2022, Joe Wadman at second five-eighth, was also crucial in our Lochore Cup-winning campaign, while our captain and halfback Sam Parkes — who, like many others in the squad, played through some tough seasons for the Coast — was committed and totally dedicated to the purpose. Sam was passionate about their quest to do better.

“The away wins against Mid-Canterbury, Poverty Bay and Horowhenua Kapiti (the last being a semifinal) in 2022 were all great, as were the wins against Buller in Westport and the Bay at Whakarua Park this year.

“All of those games were memorable.”

This season the Coast won two of their three pre-season games and five of eight Heartland Championship matches, before bowing out against the South Canterbury juggernaut in the 1 v 4 Meads Cup semifinal in Timaru.

In the process, the Sky Blues retained the Basil Simpson Memorial Trophy against Eastern Bay of Plenty and the Bill Osborne Taonga — the Ranfurly Shield of the Heartland Championship — while also winning the PJ Sayers Cup for home games against the Bay with a 31-11 victory on September 9.

Gear and Tamatea hold Harris in the highest regard.

“Kim was an outstanding resource and technical skills coach,” Gear said. “His experience with game/player management was outstanding and helped to lead us in the right direction. I could always lean on his expertise whenever I had any doubt or was in search of answers.

“He’s passionate and hard-working, and he cares about the players, the team and the people around the team.

“He coached both Kahu and me in the first 15, so it was special — an honour and a privilege — to have a man who taught us so much as players then teach us so much as coaches.

“I’ll always be grateful for and to the man, coach and friend that he is.”

Tamatea said: “I was immensely grateful to Kim for all of the help and insights he shared with me. His attention to detail was amazing.”