Former Hong Kong Based Kane Jury Appointed as New Zealand Rugby Men’s National Pathways Head Coach

New Zealand Rugby appointed Kane Jury as the Men’s National Pathways Head Coach, and the appointment was met with widespread congratulations in Hong Kong, where Jury had previously been the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union (now HKCR) National Player Development Manager between 2011 and 2014.

New Zealand Rugby (NZR) announced Kane Jury as their men’s National Pathways Head Coach, a newly created role that will include coaching both the New Zealand U20 and New Zealand Schools teams for the next two years.

Jury leaves his role as Highlanders Assistant Coach, and the Super Rugby Pacific franchise said, “Congratulations to Assistant Coach, Kane Jury, on his appointment as NZR’s National Pathways Head Coach. We wish you all the best in your next steps and a massive thank you for all your contributions to the Highlanders! ”

Jury himself commented, “I am truly grateful for the many opportunities and learnings I’ve been given at the Highlanders. This experience has provided me with the platform to step into this newly created role with New Zealand Rugby, focused on strengthening and aligning the pathway between our national age-grade programmes and our national teams.”

Jury has held several coaching and development roles in his career, including his stint in Hong Kong (where he was also the Men’s Sevens coach for the Hong Kong Sports Institute’s Elite Rugby Sevens programme), and he will lead the New Zealand U20s programme. He is joined by NPC coaches Brock James (Hawke’s Bay), James Lentjes (Canterbury), and Will Henry (Otago) as Assistant Coaches.

The NZ U20s will compete in The Rugby Championship U20 tournament in South Africa in April, and the World Rugby Junior World Championship in Georgia in June-July.

Jury added via NZRU,  “The role requires me to work closely with the All Blacks to ensure clear alignment in the core skill development requirements of our players, and to provide meaningful coaching experiences that equip our players to be successful in the NPC, Super Rugby Pacific and on the international stage. It is critical that I work alongside our Provincial Unions, Super Rugby Clubs and secondary schools to help grow the tactical and technical abilities of our emerging talent.

NZR High Performance Player Development Manager Matt Sexton said, “Kane has a deep understanding of how to grow young men and has held key coaching roles related to our pathways from secondary school through to provincial and Super Rugby level.

Kane Jury said online, “From being at the very first Highlanders game at Carisbrook in 1997 till then working alongside a lot of incredible people to shape the future of the club. I’ll fondly remember all of the people I’ve worked with and interacted with across our region and within NZ. Something special is happening at the club.

An unbelievable responsibility has been gifted to me, and I can’t wait to enjoy the journey of my next challenge with New Zealand Rugby as National Pathways Head Coach.”

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