Wellington Hurricanes speed and agility coach Jamie Tout hopes his master class with the Dubai Hurricanes heralds the start of closer ties between the clubs.
The Super 15 outfit and their UAE Premiership counterparts have recently formed an alliance, with the first stages of this relationship seeing Tout check in on his way back to New Zealand following duty with the Black Ferns female international side at the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Approximately 40 enthusiastic Canes players and coaches attended two rugby sessions and a talk at 7he Sevens last Friday morning designed to introduce them to the elite methods the 38-year-old uses. Speaking afterwards, Tout revealed his plans to return to the Emirates and potential avenues to be explored in strengthening the relationship between the sides.
He said: “Absolutely, I will be back. I know there is a willingness from the Wellington Hurricanes to explore this relationship.
“How that evolves is not for me to say. Whether that will involve youth player exchanges or some of the coaching content going online so we can share ideas, they are some of the big things the clubs could do.”
From his initial observations, Tout picked up on a few areas that the amateur Canes outfit could improve in the season ahead.
“One of the things I noticed was taking up the right areas on the field,” he said.
“You have to identify areas of weakness in other teams. If you are playing in between two ‘15s’, opposed to playing the whole width of the field, you are doing yourself an injustice.”
It was not just the players who benefited from Tout’s tutelage, with newly-installed coach Ross Mills engrossed in the sessions from the sidelines.
“It is fantastic to work with someone who is doing it at the highest level” said Mills. “You learn so many things that we can build into training for the whole club.”
