Balclutha-raised Tony Ensor, 34, played for Otago for five years and had a stint with the New Zealand Sevens, before seven seasons in France — the first two with glamour club Stade Francais, then five with little-known Oyonnax.
Things changed in ’23 after a severe concussion, ironically against Stade Francaise — due to a long history with head knocks he had agreed with his coach to pull pin if he suffered one more concussion.
Ensor then helped with coaching, but he admits transitioning after a long playing career was hard.
He eventually decided to buy the Queenstown franchise rights to wellness centre O-Studio, opening in Five Mile last March.
Former Wakatipu Premiers coach Jordan Manihera asked him at the time to help out but he could not commit.
However, when new Arrowtown Bulls coach Aidan Winter ‘‘just kept hitting me up’’, Ensor relented.
He is helping at Thursday trainings, and plans to continue when the season starts next month, including game-day involvement.
A pacy back who played fullback, wing and even first-five, Ensor says ‘‘I look back on my career and I think I achieved as much as I possibly could, given everything’’.
‘‘I just got there with work ethic and just worked really hard.’’
Business and family commitments — he and his wife Michaela have three children aged 7, 5 and 3 — keep him busy, but having not played rugby since ’23, ‘‘I knew I was missing it’’.
‘‘I’d definitely prefer to be playing but I obviously can’t do that.
‘‘It’s just nice to be involved back in club footy and have a little bit of a purpose outside of business and family.
‘‘It’s a good club and a really good group of guys, and they’ve actually been training really well.
‘‘And I’m still new to coaching so I’m learning a lot.’’
As to whether he’s concerned about any long-lasting effects from so many concussions — ‘‘I’ve had maybe about 14 or 15, and six or seven were quite big ones’’ — Ensor says ‘‘I understand, like the body, the brain does recover if you give it the chance’’.
‘‘There’s a lot of negativity about concussions in the media, and there’s no real stories of people that went through it and came out the other side.’’
Meanwhile, Ensor is not the only ex-pro helping out Arrowtown this season.
Another new Queenstowner, ex-Highlander Kenny Lynn, who also played though mostly coached in France, is helping out with Arrow-town’s Tuesday night trainings.
However, his involvement later will be a bit limited as he is also assistant coach of Argentina.
