Champion coach to join OBU for 2013

Above Boyd Wilson Park, training headquarters of Old Boys University, where former Wellington Lions prop and Petone, Wests and Ories Premier coach Phil Proctor will take charge of the club’s Premier forwards in 2013.

Old Boys-University have announced that Phil Proctor is joining its Premier Coaching panel for 2013 from Oriental Rongotai, whom he has guided to two consecutive Jubilee finals in 2011 and 2012.

Proctor will be taking charge of the OBU Premier forwards, joining Head Coach Paddy Gough and new backs coach and former OBU player Shannon Paku.

Proctor comes with exceptional credentials as a player and coach, having won five Jubilee Cups playing for Petone as well as three as coach (one with Petone, one with the Wests Roosters and one with Ories in 2011).

He was a New Zealand Junior representative in 1984 and a formidable tighthead prop for the Wellington Lions from 1985 to 1996.? He was capped 66 games for Wellington. His son Matt, a wing and fullback, will be a first time Hurricane in 2013.

Passionate about Wellington rugby, Proctor is currently the Head Coach for the Wellington Development Team. OBU head coach, Paddy Gough stated he is “excited about the experience and different perspective Proctor will bring to the team for 2013.” While Proctor is ‘”looking forward to leveraging the planning and review process" and that he "has always enjoyed OBU’s way of not being afraid to express themselves on the field.”

Fans of OBU will be enthused about having new coaches Proctor and Paku on board working alongside Gough, who is also assistant coach of the Wairarapa-Bush Heartland team.? The club - at Premier level - has been dogged by underachievement? in recent years, including missing out on playing in the Jubilee Cup in three years of the past four. Wellington club rugby supporters can look out for a resurgence in 2013.