New Orleans Gold – Nate Osborne

The New Orleans Gold have released additional information on their head rugby coach Nate Osborne. In a Rugby World Cup article, From Australia to America With Love, Nate discusses his journey to the U.S. from Australia, the Rugby World Cup 2015 and USA Rugby.

“Ten years ago Nate Osborne made the journey from Australia to the USA and fell in love twice, first with the woman who would become his wife, and second with coaching rugby.”

“It’s been unreal,” said Osborne said, both of his route to RWC 2015 and the growth of rugby in the past 10 years. “When I first moved to America it didn’t seem like there was much rugby. It was one of those sports that people started playing in college, or when they were done with NFL, or they were just doing it for fun.”

“There needs to be some sort of pro league in the States to grow the game, getting people wanting to play the game, not just jumping over because they didn’t make it in NFL,” he said. “You’ve got to put on a product that people want to watch.”

Nate’s predictions about a professional league in the U.S. have become a reality and he is helping to create the mold as one of its coaches.

Nate Osborne and USA Rugby Men’s Eagles

Nate joined the Eagles coaching staff for the IRB Americas Rugby Championship in October 2014. The Eagles Selects XV played against Argentina, Canada, and Uruguay.

Nate Osborne joined the USA Rugby Men’s Eagles coaching staff in time for the November 2014 tour. The Eagles played the All Blacks in Soldier Field, which sold out and is the highest attended match involving USA Rugby. The team then traveled to Europe where they played Romania, Tonga and then Fiji.

Nate was part of Mike Tolkin’s coaching staff along with current Houston SaberCAts Head Coach Justin Fitzpatrick. “Metropolis coach Nate Osborne, a member of the Eagles Select XV coaching staff at this year’s ARC, joins Tolkin’s staff for the November Tour as an assistant coach, replacing Billy Millard.”

Nate continued with the Eagles as Assistant Coach (Backs) for the 2015 Pacific Nations Cup, with matches against Samoa, Japan, Tonga, and Canada. He was also the Backs/Attack Coach for Eagles at the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

When Nate joined the New Orleans Gold he was an owner, personal trainer, the rugby program director for Nexus Human Performance in Golden Valley, Minnesota. NHP is a full-service performance center offering a variety of personal training options, rugby and sports performance development, massage therapy, and physical therapy. In his Nexus Human Performance bio states that “Nathan graduated from the Australian Institute of Sport with an Exercise Science degree while playing Rugby Professionally. Rugby consequently bought Nathan to the United States where he has worked as both a Personal Trainer and Rugby coach for the past 10 years.”

Nate was a recent quest on An Earful of Dirt, where he discussed lineouts in a 2017 podcast.

New Orleans Gold Rugby Club discusses Nate attending St. Edmund’s College in Canberra. There he was a St Edmunds College Australian Schoolboys Rugby Union Representative in 1998 and a member of the Hall of Fame.

Nate became the Head Coach of Metropolis RFC in 2011. It is interesting to read the club’s release.

Nate was announced as the Head Coach of the New Orleans Gold in June 2017 and since then he has assembled a very talented group of players. There will be additional release in the coming weeks, so follow New Orleans Gold Rugby.

New Orleans Gold Release

“Meet our head coach, Nathan Osborne:
Coach Nathan Osborne, a native of Australia, takes the helm as head coach of New Orleans Gold in its inaugural season. Coach Osborne brings with him a lifetime of elite rugby experience both as a player and a coach. Osborne started playing rugby at the age of four with Australia’s famous Queanbeyan Blues program, where he began to develop the skills that would eventually earn him recognition as a first-class attack fly half. Later, during his formative schoolboy days, Osborne was a perennial first XV player with the elite St. Edmunds College, Canberra, program. Osborne’s field generalship and sharp skill set earned him a continuous series of selections and appointments, including to the NSW Waratah Academy, NSW u20s, East Rugby Club, and the ACT Brumbies Runners.

In 2003, Osborne, then 23, was invited to bring his rugby talents to the United States to play with the then Super League team, the Denver Barbarians. After a four-year stint leading the Barbos at 10, Osborne transferred to Metropolis, RFC (Minneapolis), where he led the team first as a player, then player/coach, and eventually, full-time head coach. During his nine-year tenure at Metro, Osborne showed his quality as a coach, leading the squad to a series of championships and elite finishes, including 2010 DIII national champions, 2011 and 2013 national championship final four appearances, and 2012 and 2016 DI elite eight births. Osborne’s coaching success transformed Metro into a nationally recognized powerhouse and earned Osborne a selection to the USA Eagles coaching staff, where he served as the Eagles’ backs/attack coach for the 2015 World Cup squad.”