Aberdeen University rugby team is preparing for the ultimate conversion as former All Black John Flemming signs up to help train the team over the winter season.
Mr Flemming, who is currently the New Zealand staff coach, has been appointed by Aberdeen Grammar FPs to coach 1st XV and has agreed to spend one evening a week training the Aberdeen University Rugby Football Club as part of a new association between the two Aberdeen clubs.
He will take part in an informal coaching event at King’s playing field tomorrow (Wednesday) from 2.30pm to 5pm, which will be attended by students interested in joining the University club. Rector Clarissa Dickson Wright, an avid rugby supporter, will also be there as will Donnie Innes, graduate of Aberdeen and former Scotland Captain and several of Scotland’s SRU Development Officers. The Five Nations Trophy will also be on display.
Mr Flemming has played and coached rugby for 40 years, starting as a five-year-old in bare feet on frosty mornings through to 1st XV at Auckland Grammar, to the New Zealand Colts, New Zealand Juniors and 35 games for the All Blacks.
He has coached for the past nine years at Club, Waikato Colts and Waikato 2nd level, as well as coaching New Zealand Staff for the past six.
Andrew Jamieson, Vice Captain of the 1st XV, said: “We are very appreciative of the time that Mr Flemming will be putting into the club and it’s a great opportunity to try to gain ground that in recent years we have lost over other clubs in Aberdeen.
“As a university, it’s particularly pertinent at this time of the year when there is an influx of talent with the arrival of the Freshers that we try to keep all of this talent at home.”
Photo Opportunity: Journalists and photographers are invited to attend the training session at King’s playing fields, Old Aberdeen, on Wednesday, September 22, between 2.30pm and 3.30pm.