Former England and Great Britain coach Wayne Bennett will return to international coaching this week despite his role in striving to get the NRL’s newest club The Dolphins off the ground.
It is an unusual position which befalls the former England boss who last season guided South Sydney to the Grand Final. Of course, he isn’t doing any actual coaching at present just recruitment allegedly pursuing the likes of Konrad Hurrell and others to build The Dolphins’ squad.
But one of the world’s top international teams needs a coach in the coming weeks, so Bennett has stepped up to fill the void. The team in question is Tonga with Fox Sports revealing that he has been given the role of interim coaching advisor ahead of their game against New Zealand on June 25th amid an influx of representative rugby on both sides of the world.
This is due to the fact Tonga boss Kristian Woolf is unable to fly over due to his commitments to the Super League Champions St Helens.
In terms of Woolf’s future, this is an interesting development as it again shows the drawbacks of being in England with the Saints boss expected to return home at the end of the year after unprecedented success in his three years in the competition.
However, for now his priorities remain with St Helens who take on Toulouse today with Dean Young – ironically a former player of Bennett’s – set to coach Tonga supported by the veteran boss himself.
