Meet Scarlets’ New Coach, Brad Mooar

It’s hard to believe that it was actually before Christmas that Kiwi Brad Mooar was announced as Wayne Pivac’s successor and new Head Coach of the Scarlets.
The former Assistant Coach of the Crusaders arrived in South West Wales with his family following the end of another title-winning Super Rugby season in his native land. His first ‘public’ appearance was at the Pembrokeshire County Show where the Scarlets launched their new home and away kits for the season. His opening words to the waiting crowds were ‘”Sut mae?”….and from that moment he won the respect and admiration of the supporters in attendance.
“The people are outstanding!” he revealed. “We’ve been welcomed very, very warmly.”
Speaking about his new role, Brad said, “It’s a wonderful club, it’s very well known around the world with a great legacy, some awesome recent history and it’s set up in a position to really grow and go forward with and dominate.”
“It’s a magnificent opportunity for me in terms of a job,” he continued, “but also a great opportunity for our family to come over and have an adventure together and live and operate in a great environment.”
Despite missing the opening weeks of the pre-season training, Mooar was eager to assure supporters that the squad is raring to go come the start of the new season.
“They’re working hard,” he confirmed. “It’s like anything, you’ve got to be continued improvement, so it’s inevitable that we want to take things up a bit. We’ve got a really excited and engaged group of players and staff, energy is high, so we’re just building our program and building our game really so we can go to Jersey and the Dragons and then ultimately Connacht and our first game at home.”
Heaping praise on the back-room staff that are often forgotten (despite the hard work that they put in behind the scenes), he continued, “What we’ve got is the wonderful benefit of outstanding staff at the Scarlets and we’ve all bought into our vision and what we want to do with the side and how we want to play.”
“Through that, Huw Davies and his team in strength and conditioning have just quietly ranked it up, we’re increased our metres and our intensity and we’re getting some good excitement and fun in the mix as well,” he added.
Obviously replacing the future Welsh Coach, Wayne Pivac, was always going to be a huge challenge, but he revealed just how helpful his fellow-Kiwi had been. “He’s done a great job hasn’t he? And he’s been great to me coming in as well, we’ve talked a lot through the process of the job being discussed and then offered and then accepted and from then on as well,”
“I’m really, really pleased he’s around, as are Stephen and Byron as well, for us to be able to tap into and ask questions and get to know our environment more and more based on their experience, so it’s a great shoulder to lean on,” he continued. “He’s always available and it’s invaluable for me and our club.”
Like his predecessor, Mooar was eager to stress just how important the Scarlets’ faithful are to the playing squad, explaining how the Scarlets is a partnership between the club, the team, the business and the supporters. “Ultimately we go out and play for the supporters,” he confirmed. “We want to entertain; we want to put on a performance that you can be proud of and you want to come back and support us.”
“We play for you…want you to support us and it’s a great circle going round and round,” he added.
Looking ahead to the future, Brad was clear in his intentions, “Our vision is to take things forward and into a position where we can dominate competitions”
“We can’t just do that by saying we want to dominate, we’ve got to build that and win the moment,” he continued. “So, make sure we’ve got energy and intensity in everything we’re doing. I think that it’s understanding the environment first, so things are going really well.”
Sadly, by Scarlets’ standards, last season was not exactly the way in which Pivac would have liked to end his tenure, with a crippling injury list one of the factors that resulted in the region missing out on the chance to play in next season’s Champions’ Cup.
However, despite this Brad assured that spirits were high among the squad. “I haven’t had to pick them up at all,” he revealed, “These things happen for all sorts of reasons. What’s critical is the heart of it and the foundations and ultimately the culture, and that never creaked – Good people, working hard with good intentions – it’s not about picking them up!” he concluded.
45-year-old former-Solicitor, Mooar joins the Scarlets following three years as Assistant Coach at the Crusaders. Previously, he held coaching roles with the Christchurch Colts and the Canterbury Colts in New Zealand before moving to South Africa where he coached the Eastern Province Kings before becoming Assistant Coach for the Southern Kings, one of the two South African teams currently playing in the Pro14. He then moved back to New Zealand to the Southland Stags before taking up the role with the Crusaders.
In his playing days, he played at Outside Half, but has in the past openly admitted that he is a better coach than he was a player!
“I’m really enjoying leading,” he revealed. “The best thing about it for me, is the people around me, I’ve got an outstanding group of people who are experts in their roles. They lead their areas and then together we put that together to lead the team, so I’m really chuffed,”
Obviously with the Rugby World Cup about to start in a matter of days, Brad will begin his tenure with a number of senior players missing. 14 players have been called up to represent their various countries with just over a third of the Welsh squad, Scarlets. It is not the ideal scenario for an in-coming coach, however, Mooar was adamant that despite the disruption, he was confident that the remaining squad members would step up to the mark.
“There should always be expectation,” he added. “Pressure’s a privilege, so we chose to be here. It’s just another thing to navigate through…what a great opportunity for the guys that are here!”
The Scarlets’ begin their journey with Brad and his new coaching team, Ioan Cunningham, Dai Flanagan, Richard Whiffin and Glenn Delaney this weekend as they travel to Stade Santander International in Jersey for the first of this seasons’ friendlies.