Apprenticeship done; White ready to test himself as head coach
"Instead of just leading forwards and talking to forwards I’ve got to build relationships with the wingers, the first fives, the backs, so it is good for me, it gets me out of my comfort zone.”
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New Southland Stags coach Nathan White has reminded his players their 13-weeks together will be a sprint, and they need to make every day count in a quest to get better.
And it all started from day one on Monday.
“We are working hard on habits this year. So, the players preparing themselves from Sunday and being prepared for their week and knowing what they have to do,” White told The Tribune.
“The quicker we can build relationships, get to know each other, and gel as unit, is key. I spoke to the boys about that today.
“We’ve got lots of time we can spend together in the next few weeks so making the most of that and getting to know everyone, and us as coaches as well.”
The Stags squad officially assembled on Monday with a season launch event held at Jump n Fun in Invercargill where the players’ competitive instincts emerged playing mini putt and laser tag.
White’s rise to the head coaching job as Stag co-coach, alongside fellow co-coach James Wilson, has been an unexpected one.
The former Chiefs and Irish prop has spent the past five years as an assistant coach with Japanese club Toyota Verblitz.
He had initially planned to dip his toes back into New Zealand rugby when then Stags co-coach Matt Saunders asked him to lead the forwards as an assistant coach during the 2025 NPC season.
That shifted with Saunders’ departure last month when he decided to return to the supermarket industry by taking on the Otatara Four Square.
“He changed the picture pretty quickly,” White said jokingly about being promoted unexpectedly into the head coaching role.
Although White was also looking forward to the test of his coaching.
“It is a good challenge, instead of just leading forwards and talking to forwards I’ve got to build relationships with the wingers, the first fives, the backs, so it is good for me, it gets me out of my comfort zone.”
White has had some more than useful head coaches to learn from with former All Blacks coaches Steve Hansen and Ian Foster also coaching at Toyota Verblitz.
Other head coaches White has worked under at Toyota Verblitz have been Simon Cron and Ben Herring.
“It’s been a pretty good apprenticeship for me. It’s been interesting to be a fly on the wall at times.”
White has had to quickly get his head around the Stags roster and sort the final few contracts in recent weeks.
He made special praise for the work Saunders had done setting up the Stags for the 2025 NPC season.
“Matt Saunders has done such a good job building this squad. This was his third year he was going to be here, and he has built what he wanted.
“He has exposed more guys to Super Rugby, Scott Gregory has been in Italy, there’s been guys in America. One of his goals was to get guys into fulltime rugby and he has done a great job of that.”
White has been schooling himself up on the Stags players in recent weeks and has been able to tap into the knowledge of his former Chiefs teammate James Wilson, along with new assistant coach Scott Eade who is right across the emerging talent in the south.
“I’m very impressed with Scott, he’s a very composed young man and he knows his stuff… I think he’s going to be a great coach for the region and further on.”
The Stags have two preseason fixtures scheduled before the competition opener against Otago in Invercargill on August 2.
They will have a hit out against Otago in Dunedin on Friday, July 18 before taking on Tasman the following Friday in Christchurch.
White said the Otago game will provide a chance for the Super Rugby players to get some game time in after a break, as well as an opportunity to have a look at some players at a level above club rugby.
It’s expected the Stags will roll out a team against Tasman that will closer resemble that which will line up in round one against Otago on August 2.
