It has been more than a generation since the Upper Clutha premier rugby team won the coveted Central Otago premier league championship. In 2009 the Rams came close, making it to the finals; but the last time the team won was in 1979.

The Upper Clutha Rams has played an extraordinary season of rugby this year and made it through to the finals locking horns with the Cromwell Goats.

The Wanaka App sat down with the Rams coach Paul Glynn a few days before the weekend’s brilliant final (Saturday, July 28).

Like many New Zealand rugby coaches, Paul started out as a junior rugby player rising through the grades and moving into the player-coach role at grass roots level.

A loose forward, Paul continued to play and coach in Southland regional competition (especially around Waikaka) for more than 10 years, including two fun years coaching at Clinton, until injury forced him to reassess his options. He moved to Wanaka in 2008 for a job opportunity but only stayed for four years.

His return to Wanaka in 2015 to manage a farm near Luggate turned out to be beneficial for the Upper Clutha Rugby Club as he took over as head coach of the Rams. What he encountered when he arrived at the club was a team without cohesion. “It wasn’t that it was bad, it was misdirected and the team wasn’t pulling together,” Paul said.

It’s been a struggle for the club to truly get in behind their team, he said. There have been some strong personalities with strong opinions and “I’ve had to stand on some toes,” he said.

“Some people have the mentality that they like to see others fail and that’s sad. I’m fairly astute, and if I hear anything like that I stomp it out pretty quickly.

“I like to call it ‘weeding the garden’. When I came to this team three years ago I had to weed this garden fairly severely. The culture had to be changed; and that’s what we’ve done and now we’re reaping the rewards.”

“Now I’ve got a core base of 35 guys. There’ll only be 22 selected, so potentially there will be 13 very disappointed guys but they are still here, week-in week-out, because they’re all part of the team.

Finals week, Paul expects to work 25-30 hours but normally he’d put in 12-18 hours each week - and it’s completely voluntary. “I wouldn’t do it any other way,” he said.

“The reward is not just us being top of the table with a win on Saturday. Coaches can get hung up on the win. Don’t get me wrong, I want to win and I’d do anything for the boys to win but there’s more to rugby than winning,” Paul said. “It’s about community, especially in this town. The team can become the community hub; a place where young guys can go and be a part of a group and have some fun.”

That’s why he coaches - it’s the involvement with young guys growing up and a chance to shape and develop them. “There’s a lot of kids who leave school at 17 or 18 and they don’t know what they want to do; some still don’t even know when they’re 28 or 29 - they’re still acting like kids. They haven’t got the fundamentals about respect, honesty and discipline.

“A lot of them go through struggles and it’s just good for them to have a shoulder to lean on, to get some advice, to give them leadership and direction.”

Paul said he was fortunate growing up to have had a strong family base and to be exposed to good coaches from whom he learned. His club also put him through a week-long coaching course in Palmerston North where he learned about what sort of coach he wanted to be.

Many coaching clinics are directed at coaching players competing at a high or professional level and there’s no attention put into people’s welfare or the roots of a club, Paul said. “It’s all about performance and the 80 minutes out there instead [of being] about these kids growing into good men, good responsible adults, to be doing the right things on and off the paddock.”

He said his team knows he has zero tolerance for drugs. “It’s banned 100 percent. Some of the parents think it’s acceptable but it’s not in any shape or form.”

Drinking, on the other hand, doesn’t have to be a bad thing as long as it’s managed, he said. “We have a culture where pies and beer go hand-in-hand with rugby and young guys will try to push the boundaries but that’s where the clubs have got to step up and manage it responsibly.”

When asked if he thinks he was a better as a player or a coach he laughs and suggests “it depends on who you ask”.

“Some people might be good rugby players but it doesn’t mean they’ll be a good coach,” he said. “Coaching is more than just coming out and telling a player how to play or what game plan to use. It’s almost 80 percent off the paddock now. It’s about managing guys and making sure people are in the right headspace - and that’s the hard bit as every individual is different.”

He admits his coaching style has changed hugely since his early days and that’s largely been driven by the current young men he’s coaching. “Where I was brought up [in Tuatapere] you got in the team, you said nothing, you worked hard, and you earned your right.

“Here those basics still apply to some degree and you can’t achieve anything without doing hard work. I still believe the team that works the hardest will get there - and these boys have worked hard.

“But these boys have softened me up a lot. I used to rule with an iron paw and some of these boys couldn’t handle the pressure. So I’ve changed a lot. I can still be fairly grumpy, and if I feel that people aren’t being honest with themselves I will bark-up.”

He also said he used to like to control everything but he’s learned to rely on a few support people. “I’ve learned to put good people around me; people that are better than me in certain aspects. It means I can focus on the bits I’m strong at.”

He singles out the team’s manager Robert ‘Wiener’ Nolan - “his work rate is excellent”; and previous club coach Paul Cosgrove - “he’s my springboard for bouncing ideas off”; and former All Black Isaac Ross (who’s currently playing in Japan) - “was tremendously influential at the beginning of the season”.

As soon as rugby season is over, though, Paul will be off fishing. “I could spend every living minute fishing. I love the independence of it.”

He said he chose to move to Wanaka from Southland because he wanted to be up in the mountains and rivers. “That’s where my heart is; it’s what I truly love - and I got sick of wearing gumboots; I need some sun.”

But this past week Paul wasn’t looking any further ahead than the finals on Saturday. “We’ve got a team that’s capable; I’ve got full belief they can do it and I’m confident going in. If we get our focus right, our process correct, the right result will happen. The boys will be disappointed if they don’t win but it’s not the be-all and end-all. If they’ve done the best they can and they don’t win, so be it. There’s no regrets.”

And in Saturday’s magnificent Wanaka winter sunshine the Rams were victorious: 27-8.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App