Rugby: Search for Taniwha coach ends

QUICK HANDS: Northland's Kurt Davies runs the ball up against Tasman in the Bayleys National Sevens tournament at Rotorua. On the left is Taniwha player Waisea Lawebuka.

The Northland Rugby Union's hunt for a replacement Taniwha head coach has come to an end.

Aucklander Richie Harris has signed on for two years as director of rugby and head coach for the Northland ITM Cup franchise.

Currently the deputy principal at Auckland's Tamaki College, Harris is looking to further his experience in teaching and coaching.

"I've been heavily involved in the two [teaching and coaching] when I look back on my career," Harris says. "If you put the two together, they're not too dissimilar."

Harris' teaching and rugby coaching career has spanned 20-plus years. This is something Northland Rugby Union director Jeremy Parkinson says made Harris a suitable applicant.

"We've appointed someone who has done the hard yards at the bottom of the pyramid over a significant amount of years," Parkinson said.

"He's a career coach, he's got a proven track record. He's coached the Pryor brothers when they were playing club rugby in Auckland as well as Auckland and Blues secondary school sides."

Harris will start on April 29.