Experienced coaches Victoria Grant and Fusi Feaunati will join Wesley Clarke, as his wider coaching team.
Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee says he is thrilled with the coaching team appointed to support the Hurricanes inaugural women's team.
“It is great to have the combination of coaching experience that Wes, Tors [Victoria] and Fusi bring to our environment.”
“We are confident they will complement each other and we're excited to see what they will achieve.”
Rotorua-born, former Black Fern captain Grant joins the team as an Assistant Coach, the third former Black Fern to take up a coaching role with a Super Rugby Aupiki side, with Crystal Kaua at the Chiefs Manawa, and Mel Bosman at the Blues.
“Tors has an astute rugby brain, both as a player and in the coaching space. She has a massive amount of experience at high-level coaching, so she understands high-performance," Clarke says.
“I’ve known Tors since I coached her in the Black Ferns in 2013, so I know she’s a great character. She has a great work rate, and she is a smart cookie both on and off the field.”
Grant was part of the Women’s Coaching Internship Programme at the Commonwealth Games in 2018, before heading to Tokyo as Head Coach of the Tokyo Phoenix in the Japanese national sevens championship in 2019, and has participated in the Women’s Sport Leadership Academy for High-Performance Coaches as part of a pilot programme in partnership with the International Olympic Committee.
Meanwhile, Manawatū Cyclones Head Coach, Fusi Feaunati will join Clarke and Grant as the team’s Skills Coach.
Feaunati has been the Head Coach of the Manawatū Farah Palmer Cup side for the past five seasons, leading them to the championship title in 2021.
Having previously worked with 13 of the Hurricanes women’s squad, Clarke said Feaunati’s experience was a good fit for the squad.
“Fusi has been coaching the Cyclones for the past few years, and they just dominated the championship, winning the competition by more than 50 points”.
“Ask any player what he is like and the players absolutely love him, which was important to me. He has a real emphasis on culture and environment standards, and he is someone who can drive that for us.”
New Zealand Rugby High-Performance Player Development Manager, Matt Sexton, will also join the Hurricanes women's team as a Resource Coach.
Sexton has previously coached Super Rugby in South Africa and played for the Crusaders and Ulster during a 14-year first-class playing career.
The inaugural Super Rugby Aupiki season featuring Aotearoa's leading women's players starts in March.