Jimmy Sinclair the new Canterbury women’s rugby coach

Jimmy Sinclair.
Photo: Callum Curnow/Matatū

Jimmy Sinclair has been named as Canterbury’s new Farah Palmer Cup head coach as well as a full time skills coach dedicated to women’s rugby in Canterbury.

It’s the first time Canterbury has had a full-time paid coach dedicated specifically to women’s rugby, strengthening the Union’s commitment to the women’s game.

Sinclair will work alongside Matatū head of Rugby Whitney Hansen to enhance what’s on offer to women in the region.

“I’m ecstatic and grateful to have this opportunity,” said Sinclair.

“The work that has been done prior to this has contributed to where the women’s game has got to in Canterbury, and now to have this collaboration and shared resources across Canterbury and Matatū to grow the wider scope of the female game is exciting.”

“Amongst all of the growth seen throughout Canterbury, our challenge now is to help the women in our Academy and clubs to continue to grow alongside those that are now in the Black Ferns, and for us to continue to build a world class resource for women’s rugby in Canterbury.”

Head of Canterbury’s Women’s Academy Cate Sexton heralded the chance to have Sinclair involved in the women’s game full time.

“The experience and understanding Jimmy brings is second-to-none and his ability to connect, challenge and grow people means he is the perfect person to work across the range of talent and abilities we have presently in the women’s game.”

Sexton also spoke about the opportunity for collaboration between Sinclair and Matatū Head of Rugby Whitney Hansen.

“It’s exciting to have two coaches in the high-performance space full time, Jimmy and Whitney provide complimentary skillsets and approaches that will add to the strength of our high-performance programmes.” Sexton said.

Sinclair has previously spent time in a range of coaching roles throughout Canterbury, coaching at Christchurch and Southbridge, as well as a number of 7’s roles that also saw him achieve international success at the Youth Olympics and spending time amongst the National 7’s Development Programme.

Most recently, Sinclair was a Coach Educator in the Community Rugby team until 2021, and in 2022, coached the FPC Development side and U18 Girls’.

Sinclair’s assistant coaches are expected to be named in the coming weeks as the defending champions set their sights on game one of the Farah Palmer Cup campaign against Wellington at Rugby Park on 15 July.