Premier Men’s Coaches bring a wealth of experience
Marist St Pats is pleased to announce the most highly credentialled coaching line up in Wellington club rugby to lead our Premier Men's side in 2024.
The coaching team will be mentored by Sean Horan, who's resume includes highly successful stints as Bay of Plenty NPC coach and Black Ferns Sevens coach. Sean will bring a new level of professional coaching experience which is rare to find at club level. Sean's track record speaks for itself, with extensive success on the international stage. This experience includes four World Rugby Sevens titles and a Rugby World Cup Sevens title. After following Marist St Pats from afar in recent years, he is thrilled to return to Wellington and have the opportunity to work with such a strong base of talented players and to share his experience and wealth of rugby knowledge with them.
In the Premier Men’s coaching team, Sean will be joined by Edwin Meachen and Dan Kauraka. Edwin and Dan enjoyed a very successful stint as our Premier Reserve coaches in which the team won two first round and three second round titles between 2018 and 2020. Over the past two years Edwin has been coaching at Napier Old Boys Marist and was an assistant coach for the Hawkes Bay Development team this year.
In addition to the core Premier Men’s coaching team; all grades will have access to experienced resource coaches for areas of technical expertise. Brendan Reidy, Bernie Upton and Nick Focas will work with our players to enhance their skills.
Brendan has a long history of coaching success in Wellington after a professional rugby playing career that included 18 tests for Manu Samoa. He has two stints as Premier Men's coach at Marist St Pats which both saw the team compete in Jubilee Cup finals; he has also coached the St Patrick's College 1st XV.
Bernie Upton returns to the club where he won multiple championships as a player to join his former Bay of Plenty coach. The former Hurricanes and Chiefs player has also been coaching at club and college level since hanging up his boots, most recently as part of the St Patrick's College 1st XV coaching team.
Nick Focas joins the coaching team as a mental skills coach; he is a former Marist St Pats Premier player and has coached extensively with young players at a junior and college level.
The coaching team is excited with the calibre of players in the Premier Men's squad, along with some exciting school leavers, and will be looking forward to working closely with them to achieve their team and individual goals in 2024.
While the Club is excited about a new Premier coaching team, it is important to acknowledge the commitment of Head Coach Fa’atonu Fili and his assistant coaches over recent years. While the Club always wishes to advance it’s coaches skills some have chosen to pursue other interests. The Marist St Pats family thank them for their contribution.
Other coaching and management appointments for the 2024 season will be made in due course.
MSP Supporters
Shamrock Club
