Hammett was yesterday named head coach of the New Zealand schools team which will play games in September and October in Waikato against Australia and Fijian school sides.
Hammett has coached at Canterbury, the Crusaders and Hurricanes before coaching in Wales and Japan. He returned to New Zealand in 2016, where he was an assistant coach for Tasman, and joined the Highlanders in 2017, where he is the forwards coach.
He follows Jason Holland (Hurricanes) and Brad Mooar (Crusaders) as Super Rugby assistant coaches who have been head coaches of national school teams in the past couple of years.
Comments
Hammer for Head Coach role at Highlanders?
His credentials are solid, as the article indicates, and many will acknowledge the current success at the Hurricanes can be attributed towards Mark's 'no-nonsense' style when he had the job in the Capital.
In summary, it's farcical that he is understudy to Aaron Mauger - who is a nice guy, but a complete novice.
Roger Smith (et al) get your house in order and get the right man sorted for the top job. How many more double digit winning leads do we need to squander before this is plainly obvious.
Here endeth the sermon
No way on this earth should Hammett coach the Highlanders.. the same man that brought in Tevita Li and we've been stuck with him also ever since then.
@Peeppoo .... I may be missing something but hasn’t Hammer been an assistant his entire time with the Landers? Why are you blaming him for the recruitment of Tevita Li? Wouldn’t that be a decision for the Head Coach, not to mention Roger Smith and the other buffoons at executive level who control the cheque book.