- techtahrugby
2022 Coaching Panel Locked In
The Club would like to announce our Coaching Panel for Season 2022.
Matt Evans has been appointed 1st Grade Head Coach for the upcoming campaign. Joining Matt with 1st Grade, is Sene Auelua.
Fred Purcell returns as 2nd Grade Coach, assisted by Jake Davey & James Benn. Fred will also be in charge of the Club’s Strength & Conditioning.
Matt comes to us from Gordon after a short stint across town with the boys in Blue in 2021 (as with all who experience Vikings, he has seen the light and left with that particular bad taste in the mouth). Matt was 4th Grade Coach at Gordon in their successful 2020 campaign, with the Highlands 1st Grade taking the crown in the Shute Shield, Club Championship Winners, 3rd Grade Premiers and 4th Grade Runners-Up.
A bit about Matt:
“Rugby for me is all about mates, I came to rugby late at school, as it wasn’t the sport I was best at. Really got into it at university before suffering big ankle and back injuries “
“I followed the Super Rugby and Currie competitions religiously back in the Republic, and a mate asked me if I had any interest in coaching which led to me doing courses at the Sharks Academy in Coaching.
I assisted as a contact and specialist skills coach for a few seasons with his schools side. Similar mates dared me to enter the SuperSport Rugby Commentator Competition, where alas, I didn’t get to get on TV as a commentator but made it into the top 10 back in SA. “
“We made the move over to Sydney and a mate got me involved in coaching at Gordon, as you may know, it was a ding-dong season, with now-Waratahs coach Darren Coleman at the helm.
That was my first taste of Australian rugby and it was a great one, coaching with former Tahs and Wallabies was an experience. I was only coaching the 4th Grade, but we made the Grand Final for the first time since 2007, had the least points scored against us in the comp and really enjoyed ourselves.
On the whole the club was massively successful in 2019, First Grade winning the Shute Shield, and our 3rd Grade winning their Grand Final, us in 4's going to a Grand Final.
The highlight though has to be sharing that with a mate, and really getting stuck in, putting in the work, to get the result and getting better.
“My wife and I moved down to Wollongong in January, and while I would have loved a crack with Gordon this year, one of the coaches there connected me with Vikings and I spent the season with them helping out and it was a good taster for the Illawarra Comp. “
I have a couple rules when coaching that I live by, you'll probably hear them this year:
1) Every week we get Better
2) Every Competition is a Competition.
3) As we Train, so we Play
4) Someone is gonna Smack you in the Mouth
Sene joins us from Campbelltown. Sene has played against Tech Tahs with Campbelltown and against/with Tim Olsen since coming to Australia in 1997, at both Junior level and then for Illawarra and NSW Country Age Groups. Sene has been coaching since 2015, when he decided to stop playing but still wanted to give back to Rugby. He started coaching the Campbelltown Harlequins Women's Team for 3 years. In his second year of coaching, he had the honour to coach (Forwards coach) for the Sydney Women’s rugby team that won the Women's nationals for 3 years straight. He coached the NSW Samoan’s Women’s team for 2 years.
2020 and 2021 he was coaching with the Campbelltown Harlequins 1st Grade, helped them make some positive changes on and off the field.
In 2020 he was appointed as the Waratahs Blue Women’s development forwards coach.
“Im excited about 2022 season with the Tech Waratahs, I believe with hard work and dedication anything is possible.
Me coming down to Tech was to help the game grow and also for myself to grow as a person and a coach. I believe we can shake this comp up next year.”
Preseason commences Tuesday November 16, at Saunders Oval.