The Border team\u2019s coaching staff for Craven Week in 2026 will feature three staff members from Queen\u2019s College. <\/p>\n
The team will be managed by the Queen\u2019s trio of Tyrone Rankin, Clinton Loest and Cameron Drake, along with Hudson Park\u2019s Onke Dubase.<\/p>\n
Rankin, the director of rugby at Queen\u2019s College, has been appointed as the head coach of the 2026 Border team. <\/p>\n
Loest and Dubase will join him as the assistant coaches, and Drake has been appointed as the team manager.<\/p>\n
Rankin said: \u201cI am extremely grateful for the trust put inme and my coaching staff, and I am extremely honoured by the opportunity. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am fully aware of the responsibilities that come with this opportunity and know that we all want Border Rugby to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rankin succeeds Lwazi Zangqa, who was the head coach of the 2025 Border Craven Week team.<\/p>\n
Border Rugby Schools\u2019 Association chair Katiso Mosioua said the selection process for the chosen personnel was based on merit and individual capabilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe looked thoroughly at a coach\u2019s ability to improve the team. <\/p>\n
\u201cTyrone worked with Zangqa last year and this year. We didn\u2019t see a challenge in giving Tyrone this position after he applied for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loest adds his immense coaching experience to the team as the assistant coach and said it was a privilege to again be part of the staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cI enjoy the challenge of working with players from various schools.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loest also said that he was looking forward to working with Rankin and Drake in the Border team.<\/p>\n
\u201cRankin is an excellent rugby coach. I look forward to building on that relationship at Craven Week level,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe understand each other as coaches, so that will assist the team cohesion. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a good forwards coach who gets the best out of the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrake is an excellent manager. He is precise and meticulous, and when he is in charge of managerial aspects, it allows the coaches to focus on their jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rankin described Loest as a mentor, saying his knowledge would be key for the team. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the way he handles players and how he manages people is the biggest lesson I have learnt.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hudson Park\u2019s Dubase will also have an important role to play.<\/p>\n
Mosioua said: \u201cIn recent years we have seen his impact and acknowledged his potential. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe is strong on the fitness of players and knows how to give players much-needed confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rankin is looking forward to working with Dubase.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnke will play a huge role for us. He is as experienced as any and is one of the top coaches in the Border region.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the team will complement each other well and we all want Border to be successful, so I am looking forward to working with them all at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loest said the coaches needed to ensure that they had the best possible players in the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Craven Week, you are going up against the best players from each province. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn order to be successful, we need all 23 players to be at the top of their game. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will focus heavily on the first game to make sure we get a good start at the tournament. We will then build from there. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe coaching staff will use next year\u2019s Border Schools\u2019 Rugby Day to see the vast youth talent that they can select.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis region is known for its rugby talent, and the goal will be to give players a chance to prove themselves before an extended squad is selected.\u201d <\/p>\n
Daily Dispatch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Border team\u2019s coaching staff for Craven Week in 2026 will feature three staff members from Queen\u2019s College.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[29826,29818,29810,29823,29813,29820,29814,29822,29817,9,24,63,29819,29821,29824,122,124,123,29811,29812,29815,29825,29816],"class_list":["post-54143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-border-craven-week","tag-border-rugby-schools","tag-border-rugby-schools-association","tag-border-team-coaching","tag-cameron-drake","tag-cameron-drake-team-manager","tag-clinton-loest","tag-clinton-loest-assistant-coach","tag-craven-week-tournament","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-onke-dubase","tag-onke-dubase-assistant-coach","tag-queens-college-rugby","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-rugby-coaching-staff","tag-rugby-talent-selection","tag-tyrone-rankin","tag-tyrone-rankin-coach","tag-youth-rugby-development"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}