Chris Boyd (born 21 July 1958) is a New Zealand

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

coach, currently working as a Performance Consultant for

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

. He has previously coached at

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, the New Zealand under-20 National Team, English Premiership team

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

, and

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

franchise 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 ...

Coaching career

Boyd's first coaching role was as coach of Tawa Rugby Club, where he spent nine years from 1989 to 1998. In that year he took over as Wellington's second XV coach, becoming assistant coach to the provincial side, the Wellington Lions, in 2003. From 2006 to 2008 he was assistant coach at the

Sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch cartilaginous fish characterized by a ribless endoskeleton, dermal denticles, five to seven gill slits on each side, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the ...

franchise. He then worked at the International Rugby Academy of New Zealand as a coaching services advisor, and was defensive coach for the Tongan team at the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup, was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The World Rugby, International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japa ...

, with Tonga famously defeating eventual finalists

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

14–19 in the pool stages.

Wellington Lions

Boyd was appointed as

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 ...

coach in 2011,"Boyd named as new Wellington Lions coach
" Television New Zealand, 3 November 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2013. and took over as head coach of the national under-20 team in 2012, a position he vacated until 2014. During his tenure as Wellington head coach, he steered his team to the 2013

ITM Cup ITM may stand for: Education * ITM Law School, one of the professional graduate schools of ITM University * ITM-IFM, Mumbai, India * Institut Teknologi Mara, a public university in Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia * Institute for Information, Tel ...

final, losing out 29–13 to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

, with the victors in turn securing their sixth ITM Cup in a row.

Hurricanes

In the 2015 season Boyd became the head coach of the

Super Rugby franchise along with John Plumtree as assistant coach. On 4 July 2015, Boyd guided his Hurricanes side all the way to the Super Rugby final, losing out 21–14 to eventual winners and fellow New Zealand franchise, . The following season he would go one step further and win the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Super Rugby final, defeating the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is se ...

20–3 on 6 August 2016. Upon leaving the Hurricanes, Boyd had become the most successful coach in the franchise's history to date, winning the Super Rugby New Zealand Conference twice, whilst also winning the competition in its entirety in 2016, having finished runner-up the year before.

Northampton Saints

On 29 January 2018, it was announced that Boyd would become Director of Rugby at

as of August 2018. Boyd's inaugural season at the club resulted in his first piece of silverware on 17 March 2019, by defeating Saracens 23–9 in the Premiership Rugby Cup final, in front of a full-house

Franklin's Gardens Franklin's Gardens (currently known for sponsorship purposes as cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens) is a purpose-built rugby stadium in Northampton, England. It is the home stadium of Northampton Saints and Loughborough Lightning. The stadiu ...

Stadium. On 18 May 2019, it was confirmed that Boyd's Northampton Saints finished in the all-important 4th place, and would go on to face the

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

in the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

play-off system. However, they were defeated 42–12 by the Exeter Chiefs at

Sandy Park Sandy Park is a rugby union stadium and conference and banqueting centre in Exeter, England. It is the home ground of Exeter Chiefs, who from the 2010–11 season have been playing in Premiership Rugby, the top flight of the English rugby union ...

. He left Northampton following the conclusion of the 2021–22 season.

Munster

On 3 December 2024, he was appointed as a Performance Consultant supporting interim head coach Ian Costello at

Coaching style

Boyd is renowned for his sides playing an attacking brand of rugby, proven statistically by his Hurricanes scoring 97 tries across the 2017 Super Rugby season. Throughout the course of the 2018–19 Premiership Rugby season, his

side steadily progressed, most notably with improvements in the offloading and player support game. It is also recorded that he has remarkable communication with his players.

Honours

As a coach

Wellington * ITM Cup runner-up:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Hurricanes * New Zealand Conference Champions:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

* Super Rugby Championship Runner-up:

* Super Rugby Championship:

Northampton Saints * Premiership Rugby Cup: 2018–19

References

External links

*https://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/person/chris-boyd {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Chris 1958 births Living people New Zealand rugby union coaches Rugby union players from Wellington City