Date: 8/2/18
The board of Kyiv Rhinos has engaged New Zealand Rugby League coach Ray Murphy to assist as head coach. From February 1, 2018 to the end of the season. Murphy will train the club’s main team and advise youth and children teams.
President of the UFRL Artur Martyrosyan commented on this event:
“After inviting Ray Murphy to our January courses for children’s rugby league coaches. Murphy had been in New Zealand for more than 15 years coaching junior teams and as a Rugby League Development Officer in schools – and this experience is extremely necessary for us.
We invited Ray to help Ukrainian teams, in particular the new capital city franchise KYIV RHINOS, to prepare for their new season in our upgraded Super League.
We were very pleasantly surprised that Murphy agreed not only to conduct pre-season training, but also found the opportunity to stay in Kyiv for the whole season!
It should be noted that Ray’s track record also includes co-operation on planning training activities and the use of research results with the New Zealand Rugby League and Rugby Union, as well as with NRL club NZ Warriors.
I am confident that his presence in Ukraine for such a long term will benefit from the development of rugby league in our country as a whole! “
In turn, Ray Murphy said:
“I am very grateful to my new friends from Ukraine for the invitation and their suggestions. I am very pleased to be the new coach of Kyiv Rhinos and I am very proud to be part of the development of rugby league in Ukraine.
I worked for New Zealand for a long time as a coach and a rugby league development officer and therefore I was very pleased to personally see the commitment, dedication and passion of Ukrainian coaches and federation leadership have towards the game is as good back home in New Zealand.”
