Keane promoted to head coach

Kieran Keane got a belated Christmas present this morning when he was confirmed as the Tasman Makos rugby coach for the next two years.

His appointment was announced by Tasman Rugby Union chief executive Peter Barr following a review process from last season and interviews.

Keane has been promoted to head coach, with his co-coach last year, Bevan Cadwallader, missing out. Unlike last season, it will be a fulltime role.

The former All Black was over the moon about his appointment when spoken to at his home in Waikawa Bay today.

"Absolutely delighted. Terribly thrilled. It's a bit of an honour. This organisation is a really good one, and I'm really pleased to be part of it.

"The faith they have shown in me will be reciprocated by me and the team. We will work really hard to do well for our provinces [Marlborough and Nelson Bays]."

Despite several of last season's players having left, notably skipper Andrew Goodman, hooker Quentin MacDonald, props Sakaria Taulafo and Tristan Moran and halfback Kahn Fotuali'i, the latter having moved to Hawke's Bay, Keane was upbeat about the team's chances in the 2010 Air New Zealand Cup.

"It's inevitable you lose players. Players move on and go in other directions, and we just have to be smart. We were a tight group last year, and we as a team have aspirations.

"We want to move forward from where we were last year." He said the TRU had not been idle over the holiday period and had been working solidly on filling the gaps.

Barr said that following reviews with players and coaches, it was decided that the best structure was a head coach with an assistant, rather than a co-coaching set-up.

Six people applied for the job of head coach, and that group was shortlisted to Keane and Cadwallader. Barr said the board was unanimous in endorsing Keane's appointment.

The job of assistant coach is being advertised this week, and applications close on Saturday week.

Barr said a decision would be made soon after that, and the new assistant would also take up Cadwallader's former role of Academy manager for Nelson Bays.

He was confident that because the players now knew who the coach was, the bulk of them would stay. Because the Makos had played well over the past two seasons, it was inevitable that players would be sought after by other unions, he said.

Keane coached the forwards last year – a new role, and one he enjoyed and completed with great success.

He doesn't mind whether he coaches the forwards or the backs, and he's already proven over many years with Marlborough, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand under-16 and Marlborough Boys' College that he is equally talented at both tasks.