Powell hoping to enhance set-up

New Otago Touch operations manager Jarrod Powell runs around at Logan Park yesterday. PHOTO:...
New Otago Touch operations manager Jarrod Powell runs around at Logan Park yesterday. PHOTO: CHRISTINE O’CONNOR
Green will make way for blue, but a little bit of gold should provide Jarrod Powell some familiarity.

The 29-year-old has been lined up to take over from Grant Milne as Otago Touch's new operations manager.

He arrived from South Africa at the beginning of February, scoping out the region in preparation to begin once his visa paperwork is complete.

An international player and coach, who has also worked in high-performance sport, Powell took a "shot in the dark" in applying for the role.

That shot quickly turned into reality and eight weeks in he is loving Dunedin.

The touch set-up is "really cool", too, and he hopes to enhance, rather than change, what is already in place.

Having top-level people in every role - player, coach, manager and referee - is the most impressive aspect.

Ensuring others are able to learn from them will be a key focus.

"I think my role is just for people wanting to do those things in the future, making sure they have access to those people's knowledge," he said.

"So in terms of coaching courses and reffing courses, the ones they do now are really good - my vision is just making that more accessible to people."

Powell grew up in Pretoria and attended Pretoria Boys' High School where he began playing touch in 2005.

He moved to Cape Town for university and became a qualified biokineticist - a physio specialising in sports rehabilitation.

Most recently he has been in Durban, where he interned with the Sharks Super Rugby and Dolphins cricket teams.

It had been a great experience and he learned much attending trainings and seeing how professional the environments were.

He played rugby when he was younger and was a halfback.

But it was touch in which he excelled and he is preparing to head to his second World Cup with the South African team next month.

He also coached the under-18 South African side, which finished third at last year's Youth World Cup.

The popularity of the game and depth of quality in New Zealand was a step up, providing ideal preparation for the coming tournament.

He felt the way New Zealanders understood the game from a young age was a big advantage.

Likewise, the quality player pool and the ability to crossover with other sports was important.

"[You see it] even watching 5 or 6-year-olds pass a ball or watch the game and understand the rules.

"In South Africa I also think touch is extremely separate to rugby. There's not a lot of touch players that play rugby and vice versa.

"Rugby players we found in South Africa make the worst touch players, because of the bad habits.

"But here I think people are able to get the best of both.

"There's a lot of rugby players that understand how the skill sets and how different the game is - so they play it differently."

That was a by-product of many South African regions picking rugby teams based on size and strength - encouraging players to tuck the ball under an arm and run straight. However, he also said football was big and often that would be the sport children would play, rather than passing a rugby ball around.

Powell will continue playing in Dunedin and is hoping to stay long-term.

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