Colin Gary Cooper (born 22 February 1959) is a New Zealand professional

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 and former player. He is the former head coach of the Chiefs. Cooper is a NPC champion and two-time

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 ...

holder, winning with the

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

union as a head coach. Cooper has coached the

Māori All Blacks The Māori All Blacks, previously called the New Zealand Maori, New Zealand Maoris and New Zealand Natives, are a rugby union team from New Zealand. They are a representative team of the New Zealand Rugby Union, and a prerequisite for playing is ...

to three undefeated tours and won the IRB U21 World Cup with the New Zealand under-21 side. He also accomplished 101 games played for Taranaki.

Coaching career

Eight years after his playing career ended with retirement at Taranaki, Cooper was back with Taranaki, working as an assistant coach from 1995. He went on to fulfil the same role for Taranaki in the 1997 and 1998 seasons, and was then appointed Taranaki head coach in 1999 after Jed Rowlands was appointed to succeed

Graham Henry Sir Graham William Henry (born 8 June 1946) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Henry played rugby union for ...

at the

Auckland Blues The Blues (; known as the Auckland Blues from 1996 to 1999) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Auckland, who play in the Super Rugby competition. Like New Zealand's four other Super Rugby teams, the Blues were established b ...

. Cooper remained as head coach from 1999 to 2002. In 2001 he guided the New Zealand Colts side for a season and in 2002 was the assistant coach at the Crusaders. Following the dismissal of

Graham Mourie Graham Neil Kenneth Mourie (born 8 September 1952) is a former New Zealand All Black flanker and coach of the Hurricanes. He was one of the great All Black captains in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was first selected for the All Blacks in ...

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 ...

coach Cooper was appointed to take over the franchise and came to prominence by guiding them to the semi-finals in two of his three seasons in charge. His greatest achievement to date has been taking the side to the 2006 Final, where they were defeated by 19–12. He signed an extension to his contract in 2007, which took him through until 2009. He later stepped down as Hurricanes coach following the 2010 Super 14 season. In 2005 he was appointed to coach one of the All Blacks trial teams and the Junior All Blacks alongside

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, ...

. Cooper then returned to Taranaki as head coach in 2010. He instantly achieved success with the province after winning the

in 2011 from Southland and defending the shield for 7 defenses. Copper also took the side to the

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2012 ITM Cup 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 ...

semi-finals and won the

2014 ITM Cup The 2014 ITM Cup season was the ninth season of New Zealand's provincial rugby union competition since it turned professional in 2006. The regular season began on August 14, when Taranaki (National Provincial Championship), Taranaki hosted Count ...

Premiership. On 23 July 2013, New Zealand Rugby announced Colin Cooper as the new head coach of the Maori All Blacks.

Chiefs

Cooper made a return to coaching in

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 ...

, taking over the Chiefs from 2018. In late-December he was confirmed as the new head coach, signed on a three-year deal to replace

Dave Rennie Dave Rennie (born 22 November 1963) is a New Zealand and Cook Islands professional rugby union coach and former player. He will take over the Kobe Steelers as head coach for the 2023–24 season. He previously was the head coach of the Austral ...

, who headed to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Coaching record

References

External links

Profile on the Hurricane's website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Colin Living people New Zealand rugby union coaches New Zealand rugby union players 1959 births Taranaki rugby union players Māori All Blacks players Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Rugby union locks People educated at Waitara High School