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NOLA Gold have made a change at Head Coach for the 2024 Major League Rugby season. Cory Brown takes over the role from Kane Thompson, though the latter will remain with the club as an assistant with a focus on forwards and defense.
Brown hails from New Zealand and played several seasons with Otago as a scrumhalf. He also had professional stints in Italy with Leonessa, France with Tarbes, and Japan with Sanyo before moving to Ireland to focus on coaching. The 47-year-old is the younger brother of former All Blacks flyhalf Tony Brown, who is also now a highly-regarded coach.
Both brothers were assistant coaches at Rugby World Cup 2023 – Cory with Georgia and Tony with Japan. In Ireland Cory was an elite development officer for Connacht, departing to replace his brother as Head Coach of Otago in 2014. He then had assistant roles with the Highlanders and Sunwolves in Super Rugby and the New Zealand u20 side before returning to Japan as Head Coach of Sanix Blues in 2018.
Thompson had been Head Coach since replacing Nate Osborne in the role ahead of the 2022 campaign. The Gold improved on their 4-12 finish that season to 7-9 in 2023 but missed out on the postseason.
