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It will be an all-new coaching staff for the Austin Gilgronis in 2021. On Thursday evening the club unveiled Super Rugby veterans Sam Harris and Mark Gerrard as Head Coach and Assistant Coach respectively.
Harris, 40, arrives from Japan where he has been coaching for the past 7 years, first with Honda Heat and then the Ricoh Black Rams. Prior to his Top League move he had been Head Coach of the Warringah Rats in Sydney’s Shute Shield, having been forced into retirement at the age of just 30.
As a professional player Harris began with the Waratahs and quickly achieved Australia ‘A’ recognition. He switched to rugby league in 2004, playing for both Manly and Wests Tigers before returning to the Waratahs in 2007. The flyhalf or inside center ended his playing career with the Western Force in 2010.
The 37-year-old Gerrard is relatively new to full-time coaching having ended a 15-year professional playing career in 2018. He spent nearly a decade in Super Rugby primarily with the Brumbies and latterly the Melbourne Rebels before making a permanent move to Japan with Toyota Shokki in 2013.
A goal-kicking wing of fullback, Gerrard won 24 caps for the Wallabies between 2005 and 2011, earning selection to the 2007 Rugby World Cup. His coaching career started in similar fashion to that of Harris, taking over as Head Coach of Warringah in 2019.
The duo effectively replace outgoing Director of Rugby Mick Byrne and Head Coach Brent Semmons, whose tenures in Austin were short-lived. Byrne has been linked with a potential Hawaiian team.
