Stags coaches building business
By LOGAN SAVORY - The Southland Times
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You could forgive Simon Culhane and David Henderson if they had opted to hoist the closed sign at their office and give each other Monday off work.
The pair had just led Southland to one of its greatest rugby seasons.
It included taking the Stags to a national provincial championship first division semifinal and bringing the Ranfurly Shield back to the south for the first time in 50 years.
But instead they were quick to put their coaching notebooks to one side and switch from being coaching partners to business partners.
When the good mates are not fine-tuning the Stags' game, they are trying to establish themselves as successful businessfolk.
The coaching duo in June bought the Southland and Central Otago branch of The Barn Company, which specialises in steel buildings.
Culhane's background is in building and Henderson's is in sales so why wouldn't they have a crack at selling these buildings to the province was their thinking.
"We're pretty motivated guys, we love a challenge," Culhane says about taking on the extra pressure of running the business this year.
Hunting buddies, coaching combination and now business partners, these two Southland rugby legends obviously don't get too sick of the sight of each other.
"You'd think we'd have a blow up at some stage but if we do it normally lasts for five seconds and it's over.
"We're pretty good mates," Henderson says. "It's our wives and partners that grizzle and moan `you see more of him than me'," Culhane adds with a smile.
The pair actually believe the coaching and business partner cross-over has made some aspects of their life more efficient than previously.
In their Waikiwi office are two whiteboards. When they're not being used for the day-to-day running of their barn business the whiteboards are cleared and the two plot the next Stags training session or come up with some strategies to take down the opposition.
Culhane and Henderson started out as a coaching duo in 2000 with Blues at club level. They then progressed through to the Southland development team and on to the Stags, where they have coached since 2005.
In 2004 – the year before Culhane and Henderson took over the Stags reins – they finished second last with just one win in the NPC.
This year the Stags won nine games to finish third in the NPC, highlighting the impact the former Southland players have made as coaches during the past five years.
Despite dipping their toes into the world of selling barns, Culhane and Henderson both said that didn't mean they had discarded the possibility of continuing to progress up the coaching ranks.
They didn't rule out one day entering the world of Super 14 rugby. "I guess when we looked at the Highlanders we knew it was tied up for another couple of years, so that grace was always there if we wanted to go to the next level," Culhane saysd.
Henderson, who looks after the forwards with the Stags, said setting up their business was about security after rugby.
"Life as a coach is pretty fickle, isn't it.
"I don't think that you can ever sit back and think coaching is it. There's not that many that make a real life out of coaching," Henderson says.
"We're local boys, we love our hunting and we've got our family here.
"The Highlanders might be an option one day, but we want to know that we've got a base here with a business we're comfortable and can come back here and live our lives out of (Invercargill)."
Their profile as Ranfurly Shield winning coaches does have positive spin-offs when trying to grow a business Culhane admits but he quickly adds they wouldn't survive on the profile alone.
"I guess it does help with the networking side of it having that profile, but at the end of the day people won't fork out money for something they don't want," he says. "We've got to have a product that people want and we think we've got that."
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hey boys now ya got it make sure ya keep hold of the bloody thing a lot longer than last time , i was at rugby park when we lost it to auckland , i will be home for a wedding in oct 2010 and would love to see you defend it , i get up at 1.30am here in tucson arizona to watch your games live on the rugby channel only problem i have coors beer instead of a speights when wathcing
hi guys u rook i went to the prade it was cool i got some siignechers but i relly wanted james wilson he is sooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooot i mean soooooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooot owel lets get back to about the game wel how was the game agants chchch i beat u were so ixseted because u won i cant want untill next years games mabe u wuill still have it then im taslking about the shiled tell james to vuisit sant.treasers one day room 567 classes love shakia Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxox love u lots team
Hi Guys, Thanks for the enjoyment you have given us "Southlanders" in West Australia. Mike.Hughes. PS.In case you forgot I am a broken down ex cyclist and broken down ex southland rugby(southland school boy under 7st (not sure if correct)from Nightcaps.I played with Bevan Brown(as soft as me).Des Langford(junior all black)but killed in a car crash after a big drinking session with yours truly in Waikiwii Tavern but he was not the driver. You guys prob remember a couple of rugby "rugby legends"K.F.Laidlaw(1960 All Black)and Paul Laidlaw,his son, (100 ganmes for Southland)who are both from Nightcaps and some am I
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Is it posible to have the sound of duelling banjoes playing in the background when we read these comments - it would appear appropriate.