Hammett fires parting shot at ‘old’ Hurricanes

Outgoing coach Mark Hammet has slammed the state of Wellington based Super Rugby franchise the Hurricanes when he arrived.

Hammett joined the Hurricanes from the Crusaders for the 2011 Super Rugby season has now completed his four year tenure and says that in his time he has markedly improved the franchise.

Hammett’s Hurricanes finished in seventh place in the 2011 Super Rugby season which is their best finish since he joined the franchise.

The coach who will soon take charge of the Cardiff Blues in Wales says that when he arrived in Wellington the Hurricanes were a “mess”.

“I regret the state it was in,” Hammett told NewstalkZB.

“There was a lack of leadership, there were some character flaws that were missing and there were some real professional standards that were nowhere near. ”

“Now I am really proud that whoever comes in here and takes over here is going to have a base, a foundation of really, really good people who are hard working on and off the field.

Hurricanes captain Conrad Smith agreed with his former coach and said that he found it difficult to voice his concerns.

“I probably didn’t realise how big a step it would have been to challenge all that was existing, so I’ll always look back and think it would have been nice if I was man enough to stand up,” said Smith.

Hammett replaced Colin Cooper as Hurricanes coach at the end of the 2010 Super 14 season

Current SANZAR Ceo Greg Peters was CEO of the Hurricanes and Wellington Rugby Football Union between 2006 and 2010 when in August of that year he joined SANZAR.