Ben Herring (born 14 March 1980) is a professional rugby coach who is currently the head of rugby at Sydney AAGPS school, Newington College, located in the inner west suburb of Stanmore. Previously Head coach of

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

and Toyota Verblitz. Herring has coached with two national sides,

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, and with two super franchises.

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 home ...

by director of rugby

Richard Cockerill Richard Cockerill (born 16 December 1970) is an English rugby union coach and former player and since January 2024 has been the Head Coach of the Georgian National Rugby Team. Prior to this he was the manager of Top 14 side Montpellier and wa ...

. He had over 60 games as coach, including

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec 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, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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 is Ryota Asano. The previous captain was Takuro Miuchi, who was also the captain of the Japan national rugby ...

recruited Herring to coach alongside former Blues head coach

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

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

Top League Japan Rugby League One (), formerly known as 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 ...

history.

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 former head coach of Italy. He has also coached the New Zealand Under-19s in the 2007 World Championships as well as coaching provincial ...

with the national 15s team, and Geraint John with the 7s. The national 7s side reached 6th in the world, its highest ever world ranking. Coached by Herring and John Tait, the national women'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

Sunwolves The Sunwolves ( Japanese: ) – previously known as the HITO-Communications Sunwolves for sponsorship reasons – were a professional rugby union team and Japan's representative team in SANZAAR's international Super Rugby competition. The team w ...

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

Principality Stadium The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...

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 challenge ...

, New Zealand's oldest trophy. The Otago team made the Championship final.

2024

On the 12th of July 2024, it was announced the Herring would start a new role as the director of rugby at Sydney

AAGPS The Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales (AAGPS) is a sporting association of boys' schools in New South Wales, Australia that contest sporting events among themselves. The AAGPS was formed on 30 March 1892, and to ...

private school

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

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 All Blacks, New Zealand at international level and Otago Rugby Football Union, Otago, Otago Highlanders, the Highlanders and Leicest ...

. 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 u ...

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 kick-off, while the second was against Canterbury in a Ranfurly Shield challenge, when he fielded a Canterbury kick-off and ran 60 metres 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 with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

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 Wes ...

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 professional rugby union player. Although he was born in Apia, Samoa, he grew up in New Zealand and played for the New Zealand national team, earning 48 caps. At club level, he played for th ...

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 national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

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 suffered a series of 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 in Japan New Zealand expatriate rugby union players in England