Rotorua man named new Steamers coach

Former Steamers captain Clayton McMillan is the new coach and director of rugby for the Bay of Plenty Rugby Union.

Bay of Plenty Rugby have today announced that Rotorua's Clayton McMillan will be the union's new head coach and director of rugby.

He is to replace outgoing coach Kevin Schuler for the 2015 season after his three-year contract expired at the end of this year's disappointing ITM Cup campaign.

"The Board is very excited to have a coach of Clayton's calibre lead Bay Rugby," Bay of Plenty Rugby chief executive Mike Rogers said.

"Clayton is a proven leader on and off the field and has good recent history of working with high level players, as well as long standing connections here in the Bay region both as a player and a coach.

"The Bay of Plenty Rugby Union has achieved significant success in a number of areas over recent years, including the growth of our player numbers, development of our sevens strategy, and the number of Bay players selected at National level."

McMillan had a long playing career with more than 100 caps for the Bay as both a player and as captain and also played professionally in Japan.

"McMillan has built an extensive coaching CV at club and representative level in the Bay of Plenty and Wellington and has an impressive track record of success at all levels," Rogers said.

"His most recent success was leading the Wellington Under 19 team to win the title at the National Under 19 tournament."

McMillan said he was delighted to have been selected for his new roles.

"Bay of Plenty is a proud and passionate rugby community.
"I'm looking forward to leading a Steamers team that our community is proud of," he said.

The union also confirmed that Rodney Gibbs was reappointed as the Steamers assistant coach. The former Steamer has a long and distinguished coaching record in the Bay and for the past two years he has been the Steamers assistant coach.

"Clayton and I have coached together previously and achieved some very positive results. I am looking forward to working with Clayton again as we prepare for next year's campaign," Gibbs said.