Rutene: Road to the top

The name Rutene has been synonymous with Wairarapa-Bush rugby over a long number of years.
And it will continue to be at the forefront next season through the selection of Mark Rutene as head coach of the union's Heartland championship side for 2011.
The 42-year-old rural manager with the National Bank in Masterton was yesterday confirmed as the replacement for Manawatu-based Kelvin Tantrum, who stood down after three years in the job. He will have long-time Gladstone and Wairarapa-Bush B coach Steve Thompson as his assistant.
Although his own playing career was cut short by a recurring shoulder injury after he had repped for Wairarapa-Bush at sevens in his early 20s, Rutene's brother, Rob, and first cousins, Phil, David and Gary, all played many times for the province at the top level and another first cousin in Jono played for Nelson-Bays.
In the coaching sphere, too, the Rutenes have been prominent, none more so than Mark's father Ron, who was in charge of Carterton's premier club side for a number of years and also had a successful stint with the Wairarapa-Bush under-16s. In fact, Ron was the coach of the Carterton squad which won the Wairarapa-Bush first division club title in 1988, a team for which Mark regularly appeared in his usual post of first five-eighth.
For Mark Rutene, his own foray into coaching on a serious basis came in 1999 when he became coach of the Carterton first division side and he was in that position when they were the beaten finalists in 2000.
He then coached the Wairarapa-Bush Colts for five seasons, three times taking out the central region title, and in 2008 he help coached the Wairarapa-Bush Bs. In 2009, Rutene again became coach of Carterton's premier club side and he was the brains behind their title-winning efforts earlier this year. He has also attended a number of NZRFU accredited coaching courses and is well advanced towards earning his level three certificate.
Wairarapa Times-Age rugby reporter Gary Caffell yesterday questioned Mark Rutene about his aims and aspirations for next season's Heartland championship and these were his thoughts:
Caffell: Was there any particular reason behind you seeking the head coach role?
Rutene: Well, I suppose it was a matter of wanting to prove myself as a coach at that level of the game. I like challenges and this is certainly something different for me in that respect. I think I'm ready for it but I know we will be judged by results, and that's the exactly the way it should be.
Caffell: Did you apply on your own or did you actually name an assistant coach right from the word go?
Rutene: I just put my own name forward but I did approach Steve (Thompson) later to see if he would be interested in working with me and, thankfully, he was positive about the idea. He's certainly done the hard yards and got huge respect among the players, that's going to be a big help for me personally. Steve is currently overseas but I've talked to him and, like me, he's very excited about what lies ahead.
Caffell: Would you agree that despite their winning the Lochore Cup this year, the performances of Wairarapa-Bush in the Heartland championship during the past few seasons has been mixed, disappointing even.
Rutene: It's always difficult to comment when you are looking in from outside but, yes, on the face of it you'd have to say that things haven't gone as well as most of us would have hoped. We probably should be going better.
Caffell: Can you put your finger on why results have been so inconsistent?
Rutene: Again I don't want to be too critical of what has gone on before because I don't know the full facts, but you do have to wonder about situations which allowed some of the players to train only once a week, but still be given starts on match day. Getting the team culture right is very important and you need everybody being treated the same way for that to happen.
Caffell: How would you explain team culture then?
Rutene: For me it's all about how you approach things off the field as well as on it and the same rules have to apply to everyone. You are representing your province and that means certain standards have to be kept. If you let yourself down, you let everyone else down as well. Discipline is very important.
Caffell: Do you have a particular coaching philosophy?
Rutene: Obviously, the make-up of the team has a big say and things can change from match to match tactically but, in general, I like to have a team which is fit and can play a pretty expansive style of rugby. You need to be aware, too, how rugby has changed, how backs have to be prepared to do the cleanouts and how forwards have to know how to catch and pass. Players need to be well rounded skills-wise no matter what position they play.
Caffell: How then would you rate the skill levels of current Wairarapa-Bush players?
Rutene: Pretty highly actually. Sure, there are always things to work on but, in the main, our top players compare well with other Heartland teams. Maybe they don't always use their skills to the best advantage though and, as coaches, that's what we need to get right.
Caffell: Following on then, how about imports? Can you say whether you will be going down that path in 2011?
Rutene: I'm not averse to using imports but rather than bring them in once the club season is ended, my preference would be to identify any holes we need to fill early on and look to have them playing most of their club rugby here. The whole question comes down to how competitive you want to be doesn't it? Personally, I like winning and that's where the focus will be.
Caffell: On that note what would you consider a successful 2011 for Wairarapa-Bush?
Rutene: Well, I guess every team in the Heartland championship wants to win the premier trophy, the Meads Cup, and we will be no different to that. We have done it before and there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to do it again. It would be nice to think we can improve game by game, to consistently play to our potential. Every coach would like that too.
Right now though I'm not thinking beyond next season, that's where it all starts.