IT’S MID-TERM break at Newington College, so the spectacular school grounds in Sydney’s Inner West area are still and peaceful.
Most of the students are away enjoying a breather, but a few of the prestigious school’s rugby prospects are out on the main rugby pitch, which sits in front of the towering Founders Building.
This small group of 15- and 16-year-old players have only just finished trials with the New South Wales representative side, yet they have gathered at their school to get an extra fitness session under their belts.
There is no one else around as they go through their ‘Malcolm’ drill, which involves exhausting down-and-ups and short sprints.
For the biggest matches, like ‘Back to Newington Day’ on the final day of the season, there can be up to 15,000 people packed onto the banks around the pitch, with pigs on spits and other food trucks keeping the supporters well-fed. There is a festival vibe to the whole thing.
If Newington’s director of rugby, Ben Herring, hadn’t said they were so young, you’d have thought these were 18-year-olds on the brink of graduating from school. But no, these are some of the young guns who have been impressing for Newington, who are currently joint-top of Sydney’s Great Public Schools [GPS] competition, the highest level of schools rugby in the city.
Among them is Timoci Nagusa, the 16-year-old son of the former Ulster wing of the same name. The young back came to Newington from his native Fiji and has made waves in the six-school GPS, in which Herring’s side have won five of their six games so far.
Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Newington haven’t won a GPS title in over a decade, but they have pushed back among the contenders since the arrival of New Zealand native Herring in 2024.
Newington is a private school where annual fees range up to $48,141 (€29,255) for the final two years of secondary level. One thing the school offers in return is top-level sporting tutelage.
Herring, who had a year playing and working in Mullingar before launching his professional career, has top-level experience in rugby. He played in the back row for the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Leicester before concussion forced him to retire in 2009.
Richard Cockerill convinced him to move into coaching, and Herring has since been head coach of Otago and Toyota Verblitz, has worked with Canada and Japan, as well as in the women’s game and various development roles. His rugby experience is deep.
He is well qualified to talk about the health of the schoolboy game.
“The rugby at schoolboy level here in Sydney is phenomenal, and it sort of bucks the trends of what’s happening post-schoolboy rugby,” says Herring.
“The crowds you get, the way the game’s played, the enjoyment, the emotion, the connection to the parents and supporters is phenomenal.
“A lot of the private schools here play rugby, and they do a bloody good job of keeping the game going strong. It’s actually surprised me how good it is, and if you could keep that going post-school, rugby would be in an amazing place, but it does change once school finishes.”
Newington plays lots of sports, excelling particularly at basketball. Herring introduces school legend Rex Nottage, the head of basketball, who explains that Newington has produced many players who have played professionally in the US.
Newington director of rugby, Ben Herring. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Soccer is hugely popular in Newington too, while there’s Aussie rules, golf, cricket, tennis, athletics, and more at the school, as well as non-sporting programmes like drama. Herring says it’s stimulating to learn from other departments.
But rugby is big too. Newington fields 20 different teams across the secondary school, with 450 players and around 50 coaches.
Legendary Wallabies captains like Nick Farr-Jones and Phil Kearns came through Newington, along with a whole host of other Australian internationals such as current first-choice props Allan Alaalatoa and Angus Bell, who just had a spell with Ulster.
Rugby league stars like State of Origin players Cameron Murray, Tolata’u Koula and Casey McLean are also Old Newingtonians. Classy playmaker Murray was part of the last Newington team to win the GPS in 2015.
And there are more highly ambitious youngsters in the school now, although Herring says Newington cater to players of all abilities.
“We want people to enjoy their rugby, whatever stage they’re at,” says Herring, who hosts the Coaching Culture podcast.
“We have those high-performance players, those who will hopefully kick on later, but there’s also a massive chunk of the programme that’s about enjoyment and being connected to the sport itself.”
Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt, who Herring knows well, recently came into school to coach Newington, and it’s clear that those with professional ambitions are being well guided at the school.
The rugby facilities allow them to progress, although Newington will soon build a huge new sports complex as it gets set to become co-ed.
Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
They have a rugby union programme at Newington, but as with most high-level schools in Australia, professional rugby league clubs from the NRL are watching closely.
Many teenagers still at school in Sydney are already committed to NRL clubs. Indeed, NRL clubs even cover some of their school fees so they can train in high-quality programmes before coming into professional rugby league after school.
Herring reckons that Aussie rugby league is about 30 years ahead of union in its professionalism.
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“It’s definitely a well-resourced, well-run system,” says Herring. “Certainly the recruitment, the scouting, the IDing is phenomenal, and it is well in advance of rugby union on money, resources, time, everything.
“It’s more advanced, so I guess rugby has to be clever about how they do it. They have to sell some of the other stuff. The benefits of rugby should be promoted – the way the game is played, the values, the standards, all that stuff is exceptional in rugby, and the character it helps shape in young men and young women.”
So Herring and his fellow coaches in Newington are focused on giving their players the best rugby experience they possibly can.
The school has a connection with Tupou College in Tonga, meaning two students come across to Newington every year, sometimes bringing rugby skills with them.
Herring had been working as a coach in professional rugby ever since his retirement from playing in 2009, with moves from country to country a regular occurrence, and the switch into this role was for family reasons.
Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“We were coaching in Japan, at Toyota, and I’ve been very privileged,” explains Herring. “My wife has always said, ‘You just chase the dream, home is wherever we are, so say yes to opportunities.’
“But at a certain point, we wanted to do things right for the kids. That point was when the youngest hit primary school.
“We’ve got four kids. The two middle ones speak fluent Japanese, but I remember them writing a letter to Grandma at Christmas, and it wasn’t great on the English.
“And then the little one hit primary school age, so we said it’s time to get back to an English-speaking country and just settle down in a place.”
They wanted somewhere with sunny weather, so Sydney was an obvious pick. Timing is everything. The Herrings landed in town just as Newington were looking for a director of rugby.
“It’s been awesome,” says Herring. “Wonderful school, incredible community.”
Before he got into the pro game, he had a memorable year living in Mullingar in Ireland.
He has fond memories of playing with Mullingar RFC, the same club where Schmidt player/coached in the 1990s.
Herring came for a year after he finished school, working in the Old Stand bar.
“I poured a lot of pints and ended up drinking a lot of them as well,” says Herring with a laugh.
“My job was to stack all the kegs when they came in twice a week. And every day at 5 o’clock, the whole rugby team would be in there and the moment I finished, clocked off, there were already pints waiting.
“It was heavy going, but it was fun as an 18-year-old. I put on about 10kg of Guinness, but yeah, I’m still mates with a lot of those guys.”
Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
The year in Ireland was an early sign of Herring’s wanderlust.
He always wanted to get out and see the world.
“If I hadn’t been playing rugby, I’d have been in a Kombi van going around America for years and years,” he says.
He and his wife, Wal, are married 20 years this year. He proposed just 18 days after meeting her.
And when Herring finished playing, they made a decision to take to the road and use coaching to see the world.
“I wanted to get a massive diversity of coaching,” he says. “I didn’t want to ever be just a product of a system, just regurgitating.
“I actually wanted to learn the art and craft of being able to motivate people, deliver to people, interact with people, have good relationships, understand people and the art of coaching rather than, ‘This is the way to do it.’
“And so we made a really deliberate choice that we would change every two years and try to get the most diverse coaching experience I could.”
Things are more settled for Herring, his wife and their four kids - Huxley, Eckhart, Rocket and Boom – now in Sydney, but his coaching curiosity is still strong.
Herring’s excellent podcast, Coaching Culture, launched in January 2025. He has interviewed elite coaches like Steve Hansen, Wayne Smith, Eddie Jones, Sam Vesty, Tony Brown, Pat Lam, Felipe Contepomi, and many more.
“I wanted to just challenge myself with something I hadn’t done before,” says Herring, who had to figure out the technical side of podcasting as he went.
He recently announced a coaching tour to Japan to his listeners as Coaching Culture branches into in-person trips.
“Gordon Tietjens and Matt Cockbain are going to lead it,” says Herring. “They’re going to take 30 coaches to Japan for 10 days and go to clubs, universities, schools. It’s things like that which just excite me – how has this happened?
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Inside the prestigious Newington College, one of Sydney's top rugby schools
IT’S MID-TERM break at Newington College, so the spectacular school grounds in Sydney’s Inner West area are still and peaceful.
Most of the students are away enjoying a breather, but a few of the prestigious school’s rugby prospects are out on the main rugby pitch, which sits in front of the towering Founders Building.
This small group of 15- and 16-year-old players have only just finished trials with the New South Wales representative side, yet they have gathered at their school to get an extra fitness session under their belts.
There is no one else around as they go through their ‘Malcolm’ drill, which involves exhausting down-and-ups and short sprints.
For the biggest matches, like ‘Back to Newington Day’ on the final day of the season, there can be up to 15,000 people packed onto the banks around the pitch, with pigs on spits and other food trucks keeping the supporters well-fed. There is a festival vibe to the whole thing.
If Newington’s director of rugby, Ben Herring, hadn’t said they were so young, you’d have thought these were 18-year-olds on the brink of graduating from school. But no, these are some of the young guns who have been impressing for Newington, who are currently joint-top of Sydney’s Great Public Schools [GPS] competition, the highest level of schools rugby in the city.
Among them is Timoci Nagusa, the 16-year-old son of the former Ulster wing of the same name. The young back came to Newington from his native Fiji and has made waves in the six-school GPS, in which Herring’s side have won five of their six games so far.
Newington haven’t won a GPS title in over a decade, but they have pushed back among the contenders since the arrival of New Zealand native Herring in 2024.
Newington is a private school where annual fees range up to $48,141 (€29,255) for the final two years of secondary level. One thing the school offers in return is top-level sporting tutelage.
Herring, who had a year playing and working in Mullingar before launching his professional career, has top-level experience in rugby. He played in the back row for the Highlanders, Hurricanes and Leicester before concussion forced him to retire in 2009.
Richard Cockerill convinced him to move into coaching, and Herring has since been head coach of Otago and Toyota Verblitz, has worked with Canada and Japan, as well as in the women’s game and various development roles. His rugby experience is deep.
He is well qualified to talk about the health of the schoolboy game.
“The rugby at schoolboy level here in Sydney is phenomenal, and it sort of bucks the trends of what’s happening post-schoolboy rugby,” says Herring.
“The crowds you get, the way the game’s played, the enjoyment, the emotion, the connection to the parents and supporters is phenomenal.
“A lot of the private schools here play rugby, and they do a bloody good job of keeping the game going strong. It’s actually surprised me how good it is, and if you could keep that going post-school, rugby would be in an amazing place, but it does change once school finishes.”
Newington plays lots of sports, excelling particularly at basketball. Herring introduces school legend Rex Nottage, the head of basketball, who explains that Newington has produced many players who have played professionally in the US.
Soccer is hugely popular in Newington too, while there’s Aussie rules, golf, cricket, tennis, athletics, and more at the school, as well as non-sporting programmes like drama. Herring says it’s stimulating to learn from other departments.
But rugby is big too. Newington fields 20 different teams across the secondary school, with 450 players and around 50 coaches.
Legendary Wallabies captains like Nick Farr-Jones and Phil Kearns came through Newington, along with a whole host of other Australian internationals such as current first-choice props Allan Alaalatoa and Angus Bell, who just had a spell with Ulster.
Rugby league stars like State of Origin players Cameron Murray, Tolata’u Koula and Casey McLean are also Old Newingtonians. Classy playmaker Murray was part of the last Newington team to win the GPS in 2015.
And there are more highly ambitious youngsters in the school now, although Herring says Newington cater to players of all abilities.
“We want people to enjoy their rugby, whatever stage they’re at,” says Herring, who hosts the Coaching Culture podcast.
“We have those high-performance players, those who will hopefully kick on later, but there’s also a massive chunk of the programme that’s about enjoyment and being connected to the sport itself.”
Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt, who Herring knows well, recently came into school to coach Newington, and it’s clear that those with professional ambitions are being well guided at the school.
The rugby facilities allow them to progress, although Newington will soon build a huge new sports complex as it gets set to become co-ed.
They have a rugby union programme at Newington, but as with most high-level schools in Australia, professional rugby league clubs from the NRL are watching closely.
Many teenagers still at school in Sydney are already committed to NRL clubs. Indeed, NRL clubs even cover some of their school fees so they can train in high-quality programmes before coming into professional rugby league after school.
Herring reckons that Aussie rugby league is about 30 years ahead of union in its professionalism.
“It’s definitely a well-resourced, well-run system,” says Herring. “Certainly the recruitment, the scouting, the IDing is phenomenal, and it is well in advance of rugby union on money, resources, time, everything.
“It’s more advanced, so I guess rugby has to be clever about how they do it. They have to sell some of the other stuff. The benefits of rugby should be promoted – the way the game is played, the values, the standards, all that stuff is exceptional in rugby, and the character it helps shape in young men and young women.”
So Herring and his fellow coaches in Newington are focused on giving their players the best rugby experience they possibly can.
The school has a connection with Tupou College in Tonga, meaning two students come across to Newington every year, sometimes bringing rugby skills with them.
Herring had been working as a coach in professional rugby ever since his retirement from playing in 2009, with moves from country to country a regular occurrence, and the switch into this role was for family reasons.
“We were coaching in Japan, at Toyota, and I’ve been very privileged,” explains Herring. “My wife has always said, ‘You just chase the dream, home is wherever we are, so say yes to opportunities.’
“But at a certain point, we wanted to do things right for the kids. That point was when the youngest hit primary school.
“We’ve got four kids. The two middle ones speak fluent Japanese, but I remember them writing a letter to Grandma at Christmas, and it wasn’t great on the English.
“And then the little one hit primary school age, so we said it’s time to get back to an English-speaking country and just settle down in a place.”
They wanted somewhere with sunny weather, so Sydney was an obvious pick. Timing is everything. The Herrings landed in town just as Newington were looking for a director of rugby.
“It’s been awesome,” says Herring. “Wonderful school, incredible community.”
Before he got into the pro game, he had a memorable year living in Mullingar in Ireland.
He has fond memories of playing with Mullingar RFC, the same club where Schmidt player/coached in the 1990s.
Herring came for a year after he finished school, working in the Old Stand bar.
“I poured a lot of pints and ended up drinking a lot of them as well,” says Herring with a laugh.
“My job was to stack all the kegs when they came in twice a week. And every day at 5 o’clock, the whole rugby team would be in there and the moment I finished, clocked off, there were already pints waiting.
“It was heavy going, but it was fun as an 18-year-old. I put on about 10kg of Guinness, but yeah, I’m still mates with a lot of those guys.”
The year in Ireland was an early sign of Herring’s wanderlust.
He always wanted to get out and see the world.
“If I hadn’t been playing rugby, I’d have been in a Kombi van going around America for years and years,” he says.
He and his wife, Wal, are married 20 years this year. He proposed just 18 days after meeting her.
And when Herring finished playing, they made a decision to take to the road and use coaching to see the world.
“I wanted to get a massive diversity of coaching,” he says. “I didn’t want to ever be just a product of a system, just regurgitating.
“I actually wanted to learn the art and craft of being able to motivate people, deliver to people, interact with people, have good relationships, understand people and the art of coaching rather than, ‘This is the way to do it.’
“And so we made a really deliberate choice that we would change every two years and try to get the most diverse coaching experience I could.”
Things are more settled for Herring, his wife and their four kids - Huxley, Eckhart, Rocket and Boom – now in Sydney, but his coaching curiosity is still strong.
Herring’s excellent podcast, Coaching Culture, launched in January 2025. He has interviewed elite coaches like Steve Hansen, Wayne Smith, Eddie Jones, Sam Vesty, Tony Brown, Pat Lam, Felipe Contepomi, and many more.
“I wanted to just challenge myself with something I hadn’t done before,” says Herring, who had to figure out the technical side of podcasting as he went.
He recently announced a coaching tour to Japan to his listeners as Coaching Culture branches into in-person trips.
“Gordon Tietjens and Matt Cockbain are going to lead it,” says Herring. “They’re going to take 30 coaches to Japan for 10 days and go to clubs, universities, schools. It’s things like that which just excite me – how has this happened?
“All of a sudden, it’s a community.”
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Ben Herring GPs Newington College Schools Rugby Sydney Timoci Nagusa