Newry Rugby Club has announced the appointment of Bruce Cornelius as their new Head Coach for the coming season.
Bruce is steeped in the game having played at a high level in his native New Zealand. Since his arrival in Ulster he has played and coached at all levels of the game.
His philosophy on Rugby is to help each player to improve their skill levels and help them to realise their potential and enjoy playing rugby.
The new coach was warmly welcomed to the club by players and officials on Friday evening at a special Meet The Coach Evening.
Speaking about his new challenge at Newry Rugby Club, Cornelius said: “I am pleased to join Newry Rugby Club at an exciting time in their history with the Centenary Year coming up in 2025. I am convinced that the Club has the necessary infrastructure and potential to develop and compete at the highest levels of Junior Rugby.
“Newry Rugby Club has a very bright future and I am aware of the hard work being undertaken at youth level and I look forward to working with all the talented young players at the club to develop a conveyor belt of talent that will feed the first team and build success at every level.
“We have an excellent and dedicated management committee at Newry Rugby Club and I want to ensure that the hard work done off the pitch is replicated on the pitch and I am looking forward to getting on with the job of coaching and improving our players. I am delighted to be here and I am relishing the challenge ahead at Newry Rugby Football Club.”
The arrival of Bruce Cornelius has been warmly welcomed by the senior players. Chris Hanna, speaking on behalf of the senior playing squad said: “It is great to have a coach of the calibre of Bruce at our club and all the players are looking forward to working with him in the coming months to ensure we have a successful season. We are doing great things at Newry Rugby Club and have a great youth set up and I feel now is the time to encourage players who were part of the club in the past to come back and get involved this season to ensure we can field as strong a squad as possible for the campaign ahead. We have a great club here and I would love to see some of the players who were involved but due to college or career commitments drifted away come back and even get involved in our Tag Rugby Thursdays to ease themselves back in and see what we are building here.”
Club Chairman Paul Little said: “It is fantastic to have Bruce Cornelius at the club for the new season. He recognises what we are trying to achieve at the club and wants to work with every player to get the best out of them and I have no doubt his experience as a Head Coach will have a positive impact on our senior players and inspire our youth players. We are looking forward to a great season ahead at Newry Rugby Football Club.”
BRUCE CORNELIUS BIOGRAPHY
The 54 year old Kiwi is currently employed as a secondary school teacher at St Ronan’s College with over 25 years coaching experience in his native New Zealand and across clubs in Ulster and England.
Bruce was Head Coach of Shirley Rugby Club in New Zealand where they competed in the Christchurch Men’s Metro Premier League from 2001 to 2003 before he moved to Northern Ireland as Head Coach of Instonians Rugby Club, competing in the Mens AIL Division 3, 2003 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2012.
He then went on to become Head Coach of Belfast Harlequins in the Men’s AIL Division 2 from 2008 to 2009 before moving to Northumbria in England to hold the positions of Head of Performance Rugby at Northumbria University and the Women’s Team in the Women’s English Premiership.
Bruce returned to Ulster to take up the Head Coaching roles at Lisburn RFC and Lurgan RFC before his arrival this week to lead Newry Rugby Club’s challenge to become a force to be reckoned with in Ulster Junior Rugby.
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