William Tukotahi Clinton Rickards (born 8 June 1984 in Rotorua, New Zealand) is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

coach who is an assistant coach for the provincial ITM Cup side,

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

Domestic career

Rickards moved south from the North Island to make his provincial debut for

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

during the

2006 Air New Zealand Cup The 2006 Air New Zealand Cup was the inaugural season of the Air New Zealand Cup, contested by teams from New Zealand. The season ran from July to October 2006. At the end of the regular season, the top team from ''Repechage A'' and ''B'' joine ...

. He spent three seasons with the province and made 31 total appearances, the majority off the bench. He also had a brief stint with the Highlanders during the

2007 Super 14 season The 2007 Super 14 season started in February 2007 with preseason matches held from mid-January. It finished on 19 May with the final at ABSA Stadium in Durban, in the first final between two South African teams in the history of Super Rugby. Th ...

, making two substitute appearances. For the

2009 Air New Zealand Cup The 2009 Air New Zealand Cup was the 33rd provincial rugby union competition, the fourth since the competition reconstruction in 2006, involving the top 14 provincial unions in New Zealand. It ran for 15 weeks from 30 July to 7 November. It was ...

, Rickards moved back north to join

, but was ruled out for the majority of the season due to a hand injury. In August 2011, he made his first start for Taranaki since 2009 in helping the province claim 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 ...

from his former club, Southland. As well as Ranfurly Shield success, Rickards also had appearances as Taranaki captain.

Coaching career

Rickards began his coaching career as a coaching development manager for the

Taranaki Rugby Union Taranaki Rugby, previously the Taranaki Rugby Football Union, is the governing body for rugby union in Taranaki, New Zealand; Taranaki is a region of New Zealand that covers areas in the districts of New Plymouth and South Taranaki. Established ...

. He partook in sevens coaching where he led Taranaki to their first national sevens title in Queenstown 2013. He also took the side to be 2014 semi-finalists and 2015 plate champions as well as being 2014 champions, 2013 runners-up and 2012 third-place winners in their central region sevens tournament campaigns. Rickards earned his first fifteen aside head coaching role with the Hawera based rugby club Southern, making history with the side after leading them to their first senior A title since the club's inception in 1995. In 2015 Rickards took over as assistant coach for Taranaki in

Leo Crowley Leo Thomas Crowley (August 15, 1889 – April 15, 1972) was a senior administrator for President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the head of the Foreign Economic Administration. Previously he had served as Alien Property Custodian and as chief o ...

's absence.

References

External links

Taranaki profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rickards, Willie 1984 births Living people New Zealand rugby union players Taranaki rugby union players Highlanders (rugby union) players Rugby union centres Rugby union players from Rotorua