News

Howarth takes over from Lam

August 14 2008

Shane Howarth will be Head Coach of Auckland until the end of the 2008 Air New Zealand Cup competition.

Howarth is currently the Auckland Assistant Coach and in 2009 will be the Assistant Coach of the Blues in next year's Super 14.

With the departure of Head Coach Pat Lam at the end of this month due to securing his new role as Blues Head Coach, Howarth will take over the Auckland role for the remainder of the season.

"As we are well into the competition, it made sense for Shane to step up to Head Coach. Auckland Rugby believes he is the right person for the job at this time given his expertise and current coaching role with the team," said Auckland Rugby CEO, Andy Dalton.

With the disruption to the Auckland team's campaign losing Lam during the competition, Howarth felt it was important to provide as much stability and consistency to the squad as possible.

"We have a lot of players new to this level and we've been working hard together for many months. It was very important to me to stay with the team and continue on our campaign with minimal further disruption," said Howarth.

The Auckland Head and Assistant Coach positions for 2009 will be advertised later in the year.