The coach who reignited Hawke’s Bay rugby – Peter Russell dies aged 62

Peter Russell, who died on Thursday, pictured in 2007 when he was Hawke's Bay Sports Awards Coach of the Year after guiding the Magpies to their first NPC top-level semifinal.

Rugby coach Peter Russell, who revived the Magpies’ fortunes with a historic first NPC top division semifinal in his first season at the helm of Hawke’s Bay in 2007, died suddenly on Thursday, aged 62.

His achievements with Hawke’s Bay within his first few months in charge of the side earned him the NPC Coach of the Year title.

Russell was a star on the rise when he came to Hawke’s Bay and tackled the job of developing a team that had finished ninth when elevated to the 14-team elite level of the Air New Zealand Cup the previous season.

As a Wellington Under-19 and colts coach from 1995-1999, Russell’s teams recorded 38 wins from 41 games. His four years as senior coach at Marist St Pats took them to three Wellington championship titles and he then coached Wairarapa Bush to win the last NPC third division title in 2025 and the first Heartland championship in 2006.

In Hawke’s Bay he introduced an 18-year-old Zac Guildford to NPC rugby, successfully applying to the New Zealand union for dispensation to start a player so young at that level.

The Magpies beat Waikato in a quarter-final and reached the semifinals, Russell labelling Guildford a future All Black. It set the path for a five-season Magpies coaching career of 66 games, including 40 wins, and culminating in a bottom-half Championship division final win in 2011 over Manawatū, after beating three premiership sides during the season.

He was also an assistant coach in Super Rugby with the Highlanders from 2009-2010.

Russell was three times named the Hawke’s Bay Sports Awards Coach of the Year and afterwards headed to Britain to become head coach at Newcastle Falcons, taking the club back to first division rugby in the first season by winning the RFU Championship.

After two years, he headed for Japan and later returned to New Zealand to coach the Manawatū Turbos from 2019-2022.

He also had more than a decade as a lead coach at the International Rugby Academy New Zealand (IRANZ).

Tributes on Friday included a Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union post, saying the union was saddened to hear of the sudden passing of a coach who alongside assistant Tom Coventry “reignited Hawke’s Bay Rugby”.

“The legacy of this period set the standard for which future Magpies teams have continued to strive to uphold,” the post said.

A post from the Greytown club of his roots in Wairarapa said that after “a remarkable career and countless achievements as a professional coach and servant of the game”, Russell chose to “bring his whānau home, to give back, to share his knowledge, and to pour his passion into our club and community”.