Rugby: Snaring Brock James a coup for Hawke's Bay Magpies coaching team

New Magpies assistant and attack coach Brock James, pictured in a similar role with welsh club Ospreys. Photo / Getty

A former Australian Sevens representative who started coaching in the twilight of an extensive rugby career in Europe and Britain is the Hawke's Bay Magpies' new assistant and attack coach.

Brock James' appointment, announced by Hawke's Bay Rugby Union chief executive Jay Campbell, follows Josh Syms' promotion to head coach. Syms replaces Mark Ozich, who left between seasons for a similar role with Australian Super Rugby franchise the Western Force.

It's just two years since James, 40, ended a 17-year upper-level career in which he played almost 400 games, mainly at first five-eighths, scoring 3079 points.

Originally from South Australia, James made his first big steps when selected in the Australian national Under-16 side. He then represented his country at Sevens in 2002, including at the Wellington tournament, and started his first-class fifteens career with eight NPC matches for Taranaki in 2004.

He appeared for Queensland Reds and Western Force in Super Rugby, but rather than chase a place in the Wallabies he headed to France in 2006, playing 289 matches and scoring 2483 points in a 10-year career with Clermont Auvergne.

The games included a European Challenge Cup title in 2006-2007 and a French Top 14 title in 2009-2010.

James was top-scorer in the Top 14 competition for three consecutive seasons from 2006 to 2009, at one stage kicking a league-record 41 consecutive conversions and penalty goals.

He also played 57 matches for La Rochelle, sandwiching a 23-match season as a player-coach with Bordeaux-Begles. Immediately after retiring from playing he took on a position in 2020 as attack coach with Welsh club Ospreys, where he will see out this season before moving to Hawke's Bay with his family, who are already in New Zealand.

Magpies head coach Josh Syms, who will be joined by a new assistant in time for the first Ranfurly Shield defence in June. Photo / Paul Taylor

James never got to play Hawke's Bay in his one New Zealand season 20 years ago, nor did he play for the Ranfurly Shield, which the Magpies have held since October 2020 and which will be defended for the first time this season against Heartland rugby champions South Canterbury on June 29.

The closest he got to a black-and-white connection was with former Magpies first five-eighths Ihaia West at La Rochelle and in the Ospreys role against an Exeter side containing Jason Shoemark, the former Hawke's Bay skipper now also working with the Hawke's Bay union.

"I am yet to discover Mclean Park," James told Hawke's Bay Today. "And from my one season as a player in New Zealand I learned very quickly the pride associated with obtaining the Shield and then the challenge of retaining it. The closest I ever got to it was beating two of the holders, but unfortunately neither of those games were challenges.

"I knew I wanted to continue within the competitive environment of professional rugby on the coaching side of things," he said.

"To me, the coaching journey seems to be one where there is always something to learn," he said. "I was keen to return to the Southern Hemisphere and catch up with the way rugby has evolved in the last nearly 20 years since I was down this way.

"Hawkes Bay is a great opportunity for me to join up with some very talented players who have created an exciting style of play I'm very keen to be a part of," he said.

Magpies coach Syms said: "I am really happy with Brock's appointment, having been through an exhaustive search over the past three months.

"Brock was a standout candidate for the position," Syms said. "Brock's rugby knowledge is extensive and broad, he is passionate about the game and will bring an exciting new edge to the Magpies game plan.

"With Brock's experience as a player and a coach in the French top 14 and the Heineken Cup, there will sure to be some innovation in the Magpies attack for 2022."

CEO Campbell said that as with the head coach job there was "considerable interest from all around the globe".

Once Syms and James had connected it was apparent James' strong reputation as an outstanding skills coach, alongside his immense rugby IQ and innovative approach to attack play made for a "perfect appointment", Campbell said.