Horan steps down as Black Ferns Sevens coach

A month after guiding New Zealand to the Olympic silver medal in Rio, Sean Horan has stood down from his role as women’s sevens coach.

Coach Sean Horan is stepping down from his role as Black Ferns Sevens women’s coach only a month after leading the world champions to an Olympic silver medal in Rio.

Horan has been in the role for nearly five years, since the Go4Gold programme was launched by New Zealand Rugby with the aim of attracting women from all sports in order to build a strong national sevens team.

In that time he has enjoyed great success, guiding the team to the first three HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series titles and a second-place finish in 2015-16 behind Australia. New Zealand won 10 series tournaments in those four seasons and went 37 matches unbeaten between April 2014 and May 2015.

Horan, who departs just a week after Sir Gordon Tietjens’ 22-year reign as men’s coach came to an end, also led New Zealand to Rugby World Cup Sevens success in Moscow in 2013.

“I’m immensely proud of the team, the players and the management. It’s been a huge privilege to have been part of this amazing ride,” Horan said.

“We fell short of our goal in Rio, but we shouldn’t lose sight of what we’ve achieved. We’ve built a strong platform for the future and that’s a credit to the hard work our players and management have put in over the years.

Sourced from World Rugby.