Tony Iro

Tony Roy Iro^[1] (born May 30, 1967) is a selector and Assistant Coach of the New Zealand national rugby league team and a former rugby league player. He is the older brother of former professional rugby league international footballer Kevin Iro.

Playing career

Iro a powerful winger with the strength of a forward, played his best football under Phil Gould at Easts in the mid-1990s. Iro, who had played with Wigan in 1987-89, signed with new Super League club Hunter Mariners and after a season with his brother Kevin, ventured to play for the Adelaide Rams after moving to the forwards. Following the demise of the Rams, 1999 found Iro at Souths before his return to England. Tony Iro played Right-Wing, i.e. number 2, Wigan's 22-17 victory over Salford in the 1988 Lancashire Cup final during the 1988–89 season at Knowsley Road, St. Helens on Sunday 23 October 1988,^[2]

Running Down The Clock

Whilst playing for The Adelaide Rams in the Round 13 game against the St George Dragons, Iro received the ball ten metres out from the Dragons line with ten seconds remaining. In what is considered the only instance of this event occurring, Iro proceeded to run forward at the defensive line, then slowly began to run backwards and continued to run backwards to his own 40 metre line were he would be tackled and the game would end with a 22 to 20 victory for the Rams. This is considered one of the greatest moments in the history of rugby league and by far the greatest moment in the short history of the now defunct Adelaide Rams.

Representative career

Tony Iro was a New Zealand international. He made his debut for the Kiwis in the 1988 World Cup Final against Australia. Playing on the wing, he scored a try on debut, but the Kiwis were defeated 25-12 in front of 47,363 at Auckland's Eden Park. He played at the 1995 Rugby League World Cup for the Kiwis, helping them to the Semi-finals where they again went down to Australia in extra time.

A veteran of 25 Tests playing either on the wing or in the second row, his last international series was against Great Britain in England in late 1998 where he played from the bench in the first two tests of the series, both won by NZ. Iro, who at the time played for the short-lived Adelaide Rams (1997-98), earlier in 1998 became the only Rams player selected for international duty when he played in the ANZAC Test against Australia at the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland.

Coaching career

In 2005 he joined the New Zealand Warriors coaching staff and in 2008 was named in inaugural coach of the Toyota Cup side.

He was appointed to the New Zealand coaching staff in February 2009.

For the 2010 season Iro was promoted to be the Warriors Assistant Coach.^[3] In 2010 Iro was appointed a New Zealand Kiwis selector for two years.^[4]

Following Brian McClennan's sacking on 21 August 2012, Iro was appointed the caretaker coach of the Warriors for the last two matches of the season.^[5] At the end of 2012 Iro left the club but rejoined for the 2015 season.^[6]

Achievements

• Wigan: Challenge Cup, Lancashire Cup, Regal Trophy, Charity Shield
• Coaching: Vodafone Warriors IT and Video analyst 2005
• Allied Work Force development coach 2006
• Vodafone Warriors welfare and development manager 2006-07
• Other: New Zealand selector 2005-07, 2010–12

References

External links

• Tony Iro Wigan Career Page on the Wigan RL Fansite.
• World Cup 1995 details