HSBC Penguins spread the word of rugby
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HSBC ARFU Rugby Coaching Tour launched. |
However, for Herewini, coaching comes first and he has played an active role since meeting Craig Brown, the club's current Chief Executive, soon after the Penguin academy was formalised following an investment by HSBC in 2004. The academy's first official outing was in Hong Kong that same year when coaching sessions catered for elite Chinese players aged 17 to 23, Hong Kong University students and a ‘coach the coaches' session.
"The Penguins travel to various places around the world – from Mexico to Kuala Lumpur, you name it – but mainly to places that need more development," Herewini says.
"One of my nomadic reasons for coming to Asia was to play a bit of rugby in Hong Kong and head back to New Zealand, but instead I found great opportunities for me in terms of rugby development. It's a big thing in Asia but there's still a long way to go and I stayed because there's so much opportunity.
"I'm a volunteer, but I would do it day in, day out, just to watch the kids coming through, especially the local kids, because that's where you future is. It's just a passion we all have.
"We're often coaching kids from the age of six through to university students. That sums up the philosophy of what we're trying to do – we're basically trying to spread the gospel of rugby around the region."
Herewini believes the HSBC Penguins – a club founded in 1959 – may be unique in the world of rugby, both in terms of its breadth of countries toured and also in the professionalism and depth of its coaching academy.
"Many touring teams who travel to tournaments are also organising coaching clinics off the back of their appearances, which I think is wonderful," he says.
"From an HSBC Penguins perspective, we have a curriculum, where we'll go and run courses under guidelines set by the IRB and the Scottish and English Rugby Unions. We'll send coaches to these countries – like Rwanda, Malaysia – as an ongoing process. I haven't heard of any other club outside of HSBC Penguins doing such things and that's probably why it has such a fantastic name."
Herewini helped Lomu and Kirwan, an HSBC ambassador, launch this year's HSBC ARFU Rugby Coaching Tour on Wednesday and the HSBC Penguins – alongside the likes of Kirwan and Hadden – will next stage coaching clinics in Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan before both teams play their opening Top Five matches on April 23.
The tour will then visit Top Five competitors Hong Kong, UAE and Japan, as well as Korea and Thailand, which will host Divisions I and II respectively. Following activities in Macau and Hong Kong over the summer, clinics will be held in host nations on the new HSBC Asian Sevens Series starting with China and Malaysia in September, then Thailand in October and India in November.
"With HSBC's sponsorship, the coaching tour can bring in great coaches like Frank Hadden who did it last year and spent a lot of time on the road with the HSBC Asian 5 Nations. For me to be involved in clinics with Frank, it's a wonderful thing and it allows me to learn and then teach my academy guys within the Penguins," Herewini says.
"Being involved with John Kirwan is just phenomenal. You saw what he could do as a player in the Rugby World Cup in 1987 and you've seen what he did as coach with Italy and what he's doing with Japan. People will thrive to go to a John Kirwan coaching clinic. It's great to have these guys on board."
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