Ben Herring (born 14 March 1980) is a professional rugby coach, and served as head coach of the

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

rugby team until the 2020 season. Herring has coached two national sides,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and two super franchises Highlanders and

Sunwolves The Sunwolves (Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or ...

Coaching career

2009–2011

Herring was appointed assistant coach at

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...

by director of rugby

Richard Cockerill Richard Cockerill (born 16 December 1970) is an English rugby union coach and former player, he was the national team's interim head coach between Eddie Jones and Steve Borthwick. He played as a hooker, spending the majority of his career at ...

. He had over 60 games as coach, including

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

semifinals and winning two Premiership titles 2008–09, 2009–10, and beaten finalist

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

2011–2013

Japanese club side the

NEC Green Rockets NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu (formerly NEC Green Rockets) is a Japanese rugby union team in the Japan Rugby League One. The team's captain iRyota Asano The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who was also the captain of the Japan national rugby unio ...

recruited Herring to coach alongside former Blues head coach

Greg Cooper Gregory John Luke Cooper (born 10 June 1965) is a former New Zealand rugby union player. A fullback, Cooper represented Hawke's Bay, Otago and Auckland at a provincial level and the in Super Rugby. He was a member of the New Zealand national ...

. In his first season NEC finished third place, their highest finish in

Top League Japan Rugby League One (formerly the Top League) is a rugby union competition in Japan. It is the highest level of professional rugby competition in the country. The Japan Rugby Football Union created the competition in 2003, by absorbing the ...

history. In this season the club unearthed

Nemani Nadolo Nemani Nadolo (formerly Ratu Nasiganiyavi; born 31 January 1988) is a Fijian-Australian rugby union player. He currently plays for New South Wales Waratahs in Super Rugby, usually as a wing or centre, and the Fiji national team. Nadolo was t ...

2013–2015

Herring was employed by Rugby Canada to coach national representative teams both in 15s and 7s. Herring was assistant to

Kieran Crowley Kieran James Crowley (born 31 August 1961) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, who is the head coach of Italy. He has also coached the New Zealand Under-19s in the 2007 World Championships as well as coaching provincial side T ...

with the national 15s team, and Geraint John with the 7s. The national 7s side reached 6th in world its highest ever world ranking. Coaching alongside John Tait, the national woman's 7s team consistently ranked top 3 in the world.

2015–2018

Due to a growing family, Herring returned to New Zealand and became assistant coach for Otago, and a specialist coach for the Highlanders.

Jamie Joseph James Whitinui Joseph (born 21 November 1969) is a New Zealand-born Japanese former rugby union player and current rugby union coach. A flanker, Joseph represented Otago at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, ...

s appointment to coach the Japanese national side, saw him take Tony Brown (attack) and Ben Herring (defense) as his two assistant coaches. Herring was also appointed assistant coach to the newly formed Japanese Super team, the

, in order to create alignment between the national and Super franchise. Japan exceeded expectation in 2016 finishing the November internationals with a last minute drop goal loss to Wales at a sold out

Principality Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

2018–2019

With the arrival of his fourth child Herring returned to New Zealand, where he was appointed head coach of the Otago team. In 2018 Otago won the

Ranfurly shield The Ranfurly Shield, colloquially known as the Log o' Wood, is a trophy in New Zealand's domestic rugby union competition. First played for in 1904, the Shield is based on a challenge system. The holding union must defend the shield in challeng ...

, New Zealand's oldest trophy. The Otago team made the Championship final. He will be succeeded by

Tom Donnelly Thomas Mathew Donnelly (born 1 October 1981) was a rugby union player who played for Montpellier in the Top 14. He also made 15 appearances for the All Blacks since 2009 and played for Otago Rugby Football Union. He moved into a coaching caree ...

for the 2020–2023 seasons.

Playing career

Playing career Herring played professionally from 2001 to 2009 in both New Zealand and England before his retirement through concussion. Herring was a reliable openside flanker and turnover specialist. He began his senior rugby career when he shifted from Auckland to Dunedin to study a Physical Education degree at the University of Otago. He played for the Alhambra-Union club, whose most notable All Black was fellow openside

Josh Kronfeld Joshua Adrian Kronfeld (born 20 June 1971) is a TV presenter and a former rugby union footballer who represented New Zealand at international level and Otago, the Highlanders and Leicester at first-class level. During his international career, K ...

. Herring won Otago club player of the year for his first two seasons, playing fifty games for the club, before being contracted to Southland for the start of his professional career. In his debut season for the

Southland Stags Rugby Southland (formerly the Southland Rugby Football Union) is the provincial rugby union who govern the Southland region of New Zealand. Their headquarters are at Rugby Park Stadium in Invercargill, which is also the home ground of the unio ...

he was named Southland player of the year, scoring two highly memorable NPC tries off kick offs. The first was an intercept and an unopposed run to the line off a Southland kickoff, while the second was against Canterbury in a Ranfurly Shield challenge, when he fielded a Canterbury kickoff and ran 60 meters to score. This form won him a Super 12 contract with the Highlanders in 2002. A second season at Southland followed, where by the end of 2003 he had scored seven tries in 22 games. In 2004 he transferred to the

Hurricanes A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

and Vodafone

Wellington Lions The Wellington Rugby Football Union (known as the Wellington Lions for competition reasons) are a New Zealand governing body of rugby union in the New Zealand province of Wellington Region. The main stadium is Sky Stadium (formerly named West ...

replacing the departing Kupu Vanisi. Injury restricted him to only six Super rugby games in his debut season with the Hurricanes. He returned to play a leading role for both the capital sides, forming a regular loose forward trio with

Jerry Collins Jerry Collins (4 November 1980 – 5 June 2015) was a Samoan – New Zealand rugby union player. He played for New Zealand, for whom he was capped 48 times, as well as for the Wellington Hurricanes in New Zealand, Toulon and Narbonne in the Rugb ...

and Rodney So’oialo. After notable highlights against the

British and Irish lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

and NPC final appearances Herring took up a contract for European giants Leicester Tigers in 2007. Herring won Leicester Tigers newcomer of the year in 2008. After 30 Premiership and Heineken Cup appearances Herring received a series of grizzly concussions that led to his premature retirement from all rugby in January 2009.

References

* https://web.archive.org/web/20130208061638/http://hurricanes.co.nz/team/players/ben-herring * www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/Assistant ... Ben-Herring ... /story.html * http://www.espnscrum.com/premiership-2010-11/rugby/story/138356.html

External links

Leicester profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herring, Ben Living people 1980 births New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players Rugby union flankers Leicester Tigers players Southland rugby union players Wellington rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Hurricanes (rugby union) players Rugby union players from Auckland New Zealand expatriate rugby union players New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate rugby union players in England