Stephen Jones, left, and Toaigaotumua Tom Coventry. Photo: Moana Pasifika
Moana Pasifika's two new assistant coaches believe they have enough talent in the squad to build a competitive team for the 2024 Super Rugby Pacific competition.
Toaigaotumua Tom Coventry and Stephen Jones were named by Moana Pasifika as assistants to head coach Fa'alogo Tana Umaga, who is also taking over the role in the 2024 season.
Coventry was with Manu Samoa at the Rugby World Cup in France and has established himself as one of the top forwards coaches in New Zealand.
He is a three-time Super Rugby title holder with the Blues and the Chiefs.
Jones is a former Wales fly-half, and played over 100 games for his country and the British Lions.
Coventry happy to join
Speaking to the media on this wee, both Coventry and Jones said they were excited about the opportunity and look forward to working with Umaga and the players.
Coventry said he was humbled to be recruited by Moana Pasifika and Umaga, who he had also worked with for Manu Samoa.
"I have a strong relationship with Tana (Umaga) obviously working with him over the last five years with the Blues and into Samoa," Coventry said.
"Have a lot of respect for Tana and what he's trying to do with his team and we've got some unique people involved. Looking forward to the challenge and the experience of working with this group."
Coventry said he had loved his time with the Auckland Blues and added that the new role would challenge him more.
He is looking forward to working with the Samoan and Tongan players in the Moana outfit.
"The Tongans and Samoans have come immediately out of a World Cup. There's some pretty good time over there," he said.
"You know immersed in some really good rugby. So hopefully we can be buoyant on the back of that and we've got some new players coming in, who need to be introduced into a pretty buoyant environment.
"We've got a wealth of experience but we've also got some really healthy youth in our team that will be really exciting to have those boys."
Jones happy with talent
Jones said he was excited moving from the northern hemisphere with his family to Auckland.
He believes Moana Pasifika have enough talent to make the Super Rugby Pacific competitive in the 2024 season, with the experience of the Samoan and Tongan players who had competed at the Rugby World Cup in France.
"I just think when players have a positive experience, like they would have had at the World Cup, coming back, they'd be excited and energised, and they want to build on their skill set and improve the game," Jone said.
"We as coaches got a duty to give them an environment to flourish and to improve and that's something that we'd be striving our best to achieve.
"There's an amazing amount of talent and ability there. The key for us is that we galvanize and bring that talent together because collectively, it can be very, very powerful.
"And the key for us is that we play in an efficient and creative way and getting everybody on the same hymn sheet is going to be very important for us. How good is that talent we have available to us and my job is to make sure that they function collectively."
Head coach Umaga is excited to have someone of Jones' caliber and experience join Moana Pasifika.
"He brings a different style of thought process to us as well as the necessary skillset for our attack and kicking strategy. He'll also be able to develop our first five-eights and game drivers which is crucial for not only Moana Pasifika but Samoa and Tonga as well," he said.
Coventry and Jones complete the 2024 group of Assistant Coaches with Scrum Coach Pauliasi Manu and Skills Coach Damian Karauna continuing their tenure at the club.