Clarke Dermody named Highlanders head coach

The Highlanders have announced Southlander Clarke Dermody as the new Head Coach of the Highlanders for a three-year term.

Dermody takes over from Tony Brown who finishes his two-year tenure to dedicate his time to helping coach Japan ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup alongside another former Highlander’s Head Coach, Jamie Joseph. It was Joseph who first brought Dermody into the fold in 2014 as Scrum Coach and he has been an integral member of the coaching team since then.

After a brief stint in the farming machinery industry, he began his coaching career in 2014 with Southland as Assistant Coach to current All Black’s Attack Coach, Brad Mooar. In 2018 he joined Tasman as co-Head Coach with Andrew Goodman, with the pair leading the Mako to the NPC Premiership titles in 2019 and 2020, and in 2021 he led the Highlanders to the Sky Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final as stand-in Head Coach for Brown who had been called away for Japan’s international campaign.

Prior to his coaching career Dermody played loosehead prop, playing 92 games for Southland, 44 games for the Highlanders and three for the All Blacks, before departing for London Irish in 2007. He clocked up 108 appearances for London Irish and was captain before injury curtailed his career in 2012 and he returned with his wife Sarah and children Carter and Maggie to New Zealand.

Dermody’s first job will be to confirm his playing roster for the 2023 DHL Super Rugby Pacific season and to put in place the key elements to enable consistently high performances from the team.