{"id":201923,"date":"2025-10-10T02:56:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T02:56:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201923\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T02:56:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T02:56:07","slug":"free-jacks-add-ex-highlanders-prop-to-coaching-staff-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/201923\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Jacks add ex-Highlanders prop to coaching staff for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Bay of Plenty<\/a> and Highlanders<\/a> prop Pingi Tala\u2019apitaga has joined the New England<\/a> Free Jacks\u2019 coaching staff ahead of the 2026 Major League Rugby<\/a> season, as the three-time defending champions chase a historic four-peat.<\/p>\n

Tala\u2019apitaga is the latest coach from New Zealand\u2019s National Provincial Championship to sign on with the Free Jacks, following current championship-winning head coach Ryan Martin and former assistant Mike Rogers.<\/p>\n

Before moving into coaching, Tala\u2019apitaga enjoyed a successful playing career with the Bay and Highlanders, helping the team win the 2015 Super Rugby title. Tala\u2019apitaga also spent a few years in France\u2019s Pro D2.<\/p>\n

Jamie Joseph, Tony Brown<\/a>, Wayne Smith, Dave Rennie and Calyon McMillan were some of the world-renowned coaches who worked with Tala\u2019apitaga throughout his playing career. Tala\u2019apitaga has since followed in their footsteps by becoming a coach.<\/p>\n

Tala\u2019apitaga worked with the then-world champion Black Ferns in 2023 and has helped the Bay standout in the NPC with a menacing defensive line. This season, the Steamers finished the regular season in third place with a 7-3 record.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pride ourselves on having ambitious coaches that are excellent at making players better,\u201d Free Jacks General Manager Tom Kindley said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cPingi is a guy that prioritises building strong connections with his athletes and we have no doubt he is well equipped to continue to build on the great work to date in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Martin added: \u201cPingi is currently in charge of one of the best set-piece packs in the NPC with the Bay of Plenty. He is an astute operator who I have been admiring from afar & after speaking with him I am in no doubt about the special places he will take the Free Jacks forward pack for the upcoming season!\u201d<\/p>\n

New England secured their first of three straight MLR championships when they defeated San Diego Legion<\/a> 25-24 two years ago. The Free Jacks defended their title with a nine-point triumph over Seattle Seawolves<\/a> in the 2024 championship game.<\/p>\n

No team in MLR history had secured a three-peat before New England, who achieved that feat with a 28-22 win against Houston SaberCats in June. They had an 11-5 record in the round-robin before defeating Miami Sharks<\/a> and Chicago Hounds<\/a> during their run to the title.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome would say it\u2019s a daunting task to go somewhere they have already won it three times. I prefer to look at it from another lens,\u201d\u00a0Tala\u2019apitaga explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cSport in New England \u2013 the Celtics, the Red Sox, the Patriots \u2013 they\u2019re all winners. We\u2019ve got a rugby team that wants to make it four in four. I\u2019m hugely excited by it. I love these dynasty places. They really attract me. It resonates with me. I\u2019m really looking forward to that challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Bay of Plenty and Highlanders prop Pingi Tala\u2019apitaga has joined the New England Free Jacks\u2019 coaching staff…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-201923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}