A Kiwi's rugby mission

A Kiwi by birth, Bevan Lynch eats, sleeps and breathes rugby, having played the game from youth. Married to a native of Holland he has made Londonderry his home for now. Here he talks to Sentinel reporter Olga Bradshaw about how he is relishing his remit to bring rugby to the masses, raising the profile of the game in schools and across the City, as well as nudging the City teams up the League ratings...

Bevan what teams are you coaching here at the minute?

City of Derry Senior XVs. I have got them, but I also actively help the other coaches in the Club, right through from the U-13 to the U-19s.

I've been told you are from New Zealand, so did you play there?

Yeah. You don't really have an option, y'know. It's our national game, so I played from the age of four through to the age when I was told I was too old and told to give up. So, I have played since I was a young boy...

What were your personal highlights?

I played provincial rugby in what was called the National Provincial Rugby and I played for Manawatu and for the Hawkes Bay - the two provinces where I lived. I played for Manawatu in university and then played for Hawkes Bay when I returned home.

What position.

I was what they call 'inside centre' here.

Right.

So i played there pretty much all my career. I got to a pretty decent level, but I was unfortunate in that there were a number of players who were very good, higher representative players, who kept me on the bench quite a bit, but I managed to pick up enough caps over four or five years. Out of our province we had Mark Ranby who went on to play for the All Blacks...also another guy, Murdoch Pawaei. He was a New Zealand Maori.

So when did you come over?

My first time over was in 2001.

Why did you stay - particularly given the weather of the last three to four months?