 McKee in 2015. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth name | John Gregory McKee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 1957 (age 66–67) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Wellington, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | Monash University Massey University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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John Gregory McKee is a rugby union coach from New Zealand. He is a former coach of the Fiji national rugby 15s team.
John Mckee is a New Zealand-born rugby union coach, who was the head coach of Fiji's 15s national rugby team. John Gregory McKee was born in Wellington, New Zealand, in 1957. [1] McKee has been coaching since the late 1990s in Australia, but left in 2000 to coach French side AS Montferrand (now known as ASM Clermont Auvergne). In doing so, he led the team to the final of the 2000–01 French Rugby Union Championship, but lost 34–22 to Toulouse. In 2002 he became assistant coach of Connacht under Michael Bradley. McKee and Bradley led Connacht to the Quarter Finals of the 2002–03 Celtic League and the 2002–03 European Challenge Cup, before leading the side to two consecutive Semi Finals in the European Challenge Cup; 2003–04 and 2004–05. He left Ireland in 2005 to take over Cornish Pirates in the 2005–06 National Division One, finishing third behind Bedford Blues and Harlequins.
In 2007 he returned to Australia as the head coach of Central Coast Rays in the inaugural and sole Australian Rugby Championship. [2] The Rays finished second behind the Western Sydney Rams in the normal season, but finished on top at the final against Melbourne Rebels, winning 20–12. When the ARC became defunct, McKee travelled with the Pacific Islanders rugby union team on their 2008 European tour as a Specialist Coach. This tour included a record first-ever victory for the side, winning 25–17 against Italy. [3] He furthered his international experience when he was named the Technical Advisor for Tonga in the year leading up to and during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. [4]
After working with Tonga, he took up the role of Programs Coach at the Australian Rugby Union, where he was involved in developing and delivering rugby programs for 18- to 22-year-old players in the ARU National Academy Program. This also meant he was the assistant coach for the Australian Under-20's side in the 2013 IRB Junior World Championship in France, Australia finished seventh.[ citation needed ]
He is an Australian Rugby Union Level 3 coach and has a NZRU-Massey University Diploma of Management. He has an Australian Strength and Conditioning Association Level 1 Coaching certification, and has a Fitness Instructor Certification from Monash University.[ citation needed ]
In November 2013, McKee was appointed as the Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) High Performance Unit general manager with the goal to get Fiji into the top eight of the IRB World Rankings. [5] However, when the then head coach Inoke Male was sacked by the FRU due to financial issues, McKee expressed his desire in succeeding Male in February 2014, hoping that as head coach he could do more to help Fiji into the top eight of the World Rankings. [6] [7] On 2 May 2014, McKee was officially announced as the Flying Fijians head coach, cutting short his three-year contract as High Performance Unit general manager, and would lead the team into the final 2015 Rugby World Cup qualification match against the Cook Islands in June 2014. [8]
In McKee's first match in charge, he led Fiji to a 25–14 win over Italy, Fiji's first win over a Tier 1 team since their 38–34 win over Wales in the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In addition to this, he also led Fiji to first in the Pacific Islands conference of the 2014 IRB Pacific Nations Cup. This included a 45–17 win over Tonga and a 13–18 loss to Samoa. He coached the team to a 108–6 win over the Cook Islands in the 2015 Rugby World Cup Oceania qualification process, thus qualifying for England 2015, joining Pool A. During Fiji's 2014 European tour, McKee led the team to just one victory, coming against the United States winning 20–14. They had lost before this match, losing to France 40–15 and narrowly to Wales 17–13.[ citation needed ]
In 2015, McKee led the team to victory in the 2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, where Fiji beat Tonga 30–22 and Japan 27–22, while also drawing with Samoa 30–30. The Fiji-Samoa game was repeated again in the final, which saw Fiji out score Samoa 5 tries to 3, winning 39–29. McKee later led Fiji into the 2015 Rugby World Cup, where despite only picking up one win, 47–15 win over Uruguay, Fiji was largely competitive in all 4 matches, holding Wales to a 23–13 win and Australia to 28–13. McKee was linked with the Japan post, but McKee dismissed the rumours announcing that he would seek renewal of is contract through to the 2019 Rugby World Cup. [9]
In 2016, McKee lead Fiji to their third consecutive Pacific Nations Cup title, having beaten Tonga 23–18, after being down 15–0 at half time, and defeating Samoa 26–16. However, on 24 June, Fiji lost against Georgia for the first time, losing 14–3. During their 2016 end-of-year tour, Fiji gained a single win across 3 matches, coming in the final week against Japan 38–25. The other games saw Fiji get defeated by England, 58–15 and the Barbarians 40–7.[ citation needed ]
In June 2017, Fiji was the only Tier 2 nation to play three Tier 1 internationals; Australia, Italy and Scotland. McKee led Fiji to two victories, their homes tests against Italy, 22–19, and Scotland, 27–22. It was the first ever time that Fiji had beaten more than one Tier 1 team in a single calendar year, while also beating Scotland for the first time since 1998. The Australian test saw Fiji lose to Australia in Melbourne 37–14. On 8 July 2017, McKee helped Fiji qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup after beating Tonga 14–10 during the 2017 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. A week later with a 38–16 victory over Samoa saw Fiji retain their PNC title for a third consecutive year. Fiji continued their good form into their End-of-year European tour, narrowly losing Tier 1 sides Italy, 19–10, and Ireland 23–20. Fiji's only victory came in their final test on tour, defeating Canada 57–17, which was a record winning margin for Fiji over the Canadians.[ citation needed ]
In June 2018, McKee led Fiji to their fourth consecutive Pacific Nations title, after beating Samoa 24–22 in the opening round and newcomers Georgia 37–15 in the second round. Despite the winning the PNC title, On 23 June, Fiji lost to Tonga for the first time since 2011 27–19, in a one-off test match outside the PNC. The 2018 November test matches say Fiji win two from three games, including an historic victory over France, winning 21–14. Records continued for Fiji at the start of the 2019 International season, defeating the Māori All Blacks in Suva 27–10 in preparation for the 2019 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup and World Cup. This was Fiji's first ever win over the Māori All Blacks in 16 matches, dating back to 1957. However the return fixture saw the Māori's win 26–17. During the 2019 PNC, Fiji not only lost their title held since 2015, but they also lost their first game in the competition since 2014; after losing to Japan 34–21 in the opening round. Victories over Canada and Samoa, meant Fiji finished runners-up to Japan.[ citation needed ]
After leaving Fiji in January 2020, McKee took up an assistant role later in the year with Super Rugby team Western Force. [10] McKee left the team in September 2021, and was replaced by Paul Tito. [11]
The Samoa national rugby union team represents the Samoa Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. They are also known as "Manu Samoa", which is thought to derive from the name of a Samoan warrior. They perform a traditional Samoan challenge called the siva tau before each game. Samoa Rugby Union were formerly members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Tonga. They are ranked 11th in the world.
The Fiji national rugby union team represents Fiji in men's international rugby union. Fiji competed in the Pacific Tri-Nations and now competes in its successor tournament Pacific Nations Cup. Fiji also regularly plays test matches during the June and November test windows. They have beaten the major rugby playing sides of Wales, Scotland, Australia, France, Italy, Argentina and England. The only major sides Fiji are yet to beat are New Zealand, South Africa and Ireland.
The Tonga national rugby union team represents the Tonga Rugby Union in men's international rugby union. The team is nicknamed ʻIkale Tahi . Like their Polynesian neighbours, the Tongans start their matches with a traditional challenge – the Sipi Tau. They are members of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA) along with Fiji and Samoa. The Ikale Tahi achieved a historic 19–14 victory over France in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, but having lost to New Zealand and Canada, were unable to achieve what would have been their first-ever presence at the quarter-finals.
Fiji Rugby Union (FRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Fiji. It is divided into over 30 provincial unions. The Fiji Rugby Union is a member of the Pacific Islands Rugby Alliance (PIRA), along with Samoa and Tonga. There are approximately 80,000 registered players from a total population of around 950,000.
The Tonga national rugby league team represents Tonga in rugby league football. They are currently the fifth ranked team in the world. The team was formed to compete in the 1986 Pacific Cup, and have competed at six Rugby League World Cups, starting in 1995 and continuing consecutively until the most recent tournament. Their best result was at the 2017 Rugby League World Cup, where they were semi-finalists.
The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between three Pacific states: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. The 2019 edition of the tournament also included the national teams of Canada, Japan and United States. First held in 2006, the tournament is intended to strengthen the Tier 2 rugby teams by providing competitive test matches in a tournament format.
The World Rugby Pacific Challenge, formerly the IRB Pacific Rugby Cup, is an annual rugby union football tournament held in Oceania since 2006. It is contested by national 'A' teams from the Asia-Pacific region. The tournament is run by World Rugby through Oceania Rugby.
Rodger Siaosi Toutai Kefu is a Tongan-Australian professional rugby union coach and former player who has been coaching the Tonga national team since 2016.
Rugby union in Fiji is a popular team sport and is considered to be the national sport of the country. The sport was introduced to Fiji in the 1880s. Fiji is defined as a tier two rugby nation by World Rugby. The national team has competed at the Rugby World Cup and made it as far as the quarter-finals. Their sevens team is also noted for their success, winning multiple Olympic gold medals, World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.
Australia A is the second national Rugby union team of Australia, behind the Wallabies. Matches played under the 'Australia A' title are traditionally non-test match fixtures and often offer a stepping-stone to Wallaby national selection. Aspiring Wallaby players were given a chance to impress selectors during these games. In the past, the team would also play touring sides, such as the British & Irish Lions, or play mid-week games when the Wallabies are on tour.
Kieran James Crowley is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, who is the former head coach of Italy. He has also coached the New Zealand Under-19s in the 2007 World Championships as well as coaching provincial side Taranaki. He previously served as head coach of Canada. He also spent five seasons coaching Benetton Rugby.
The 2009 Pacific Nations Cup is a rugby union tournament held between five national sides on the Pacific Rim: Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the Junior All Blacks. The New Zealand Māori team that won the tournament last year will no longer take part in this competition because of a decision taken by the New Zealand Rugby Union. Australia A has also decided to pull out due to a similar decision. The inaugural competition was held in 2006. This year the tournament will begin on June 12 and ends on July 3, 2009 and most of the matches will be hosted by Fiji. The awarding of the key international tournament to the Fiji Rugby Union represents a further boost to the continued development of rugby in the region. The two opening round matches will be played outside of Fiji with Samoa hosting the Junior All Blacks in Apia and Tonga entertaining the Fijians in Nukuʻalofa the following day before the tournament moves to Fiji for a 17-day festival of international rugby spread across three match venues: the ANZ National Stadium (Suva), Churchill Park (Lautoka) and Lawaqa Park (Sigatoka).
Stephen Betham is the former head coach of the Samoa national rugby union team, that regularly participated in the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. Betham, who played for Samoa U-20's at a young age, has spent most his rugby career as a coach.
The 2012 autumn internationals, also known as the autumn tests, November tests and, in the Southern Hemisphere, the end of year tests, were international rugby union matches. They were predominantly played between visiting Southern Hemisphere countries and European nations.
The 2014 IRB Pacific Nations Cup, was the ninth edition of the IRB Pacific Nations Cup, the annual Tier 2 Rugby union tournament. Unlike previous competitions, the tournament was divided into two conferences of three teams each, with no interconference matches. Samoa emerged as the winner of the Pacific Islands conference title ahead of Fiji and Tonga, while Japan took out the Asia/Pacific conference remaining undefeated ahead of United States and Canada.
Inoke Male, is a Fijian former rugby union footballer and former head coach of the Fijian national side. He played in the position of Number eight, but could also play Flanker during his playing career.
The 2015 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the tenth edition of the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, an annual international rugby union tournament. The 2015 title was contested between the Tier 2 nations of Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the United States.
The 2016 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the eleventh edition of the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, an annual international rugby union tournament. The 2016 title was contested by the Pacific nations of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga. Fiji won title and was undefeated in the two matches the team played.
The 2018 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the thirteenth edition of the Pacific Nations Cup annual international rugby union competition. All matches for the 2018 tournament, played over two rounds, were held in Fiji at the ANZ National Stadium in Suva.
The 2019 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup was the 14th Pacific Nations Cup, an annual international rugby union competition contested by the men's national teams of the Tier 2 rugby nations located around the Pacific: Canada, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga and the United States. Japan won their second outright Pacific Nations Cup, winning all three of their matches with try-scoring bonus points to finish top of the standings with 15 points.
