{"id":641709,"date":"2025-12-19T06:33:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T06:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641709\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T06:33:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T06:33:23","slug":"stags-analyst-heading-to-united-states-for-mlr-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641709\/","title":{"rendered":"Stags analyst heading to United States for MLR opportunity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Southland Stags video performance analyst Regan Bennett.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Southland Stags video performance analyst Regan Bennett has landed a job with the Chicago Hounds in the United States\u2019 Major League Rugby competition.<\/p>\n

He will head to Chicago in February before linking back up with the Southland Stags ahead of the 2026 NPC season starting in August.<\/p>\n

Bennett has been an important figure in the Southland Stags setup since 2018, although his work has largely gone unnoticed to most outside the Stags environment.<\/p>\n

In short, he\u2019s the data man. He searches for trends within the Stags\u2019 game, as well as opposition teams, to feed to the coaches before, during, and after games.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, I like to be very coach-specific, especially during the game. So, what is going to help them make the best decision to then relay to the players?<\/p>\n

\u201cEach coach for me had a different set of stats I was providing them during the games.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett puts together a review report following each game for the coaches, as well as a preview that takes a deep look at opposition teams.<\/p>\n

That might entail which opposition players kick the most, and what type of kicks, where they go to the most in lineouts, or how they defend. <\/p>\n

Bennett said it is rewarding to see something that had been identified and relayed to the players pay off.<\/p>\n

He used a couple of Michael Manson tries in 2025 as examples.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a try from a scrum against Tasman, and Michael Manson went all the way through. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had previewed they were going to get tight [in defence] here. You show the backs and then you give them some rein with what move they can make to expose this area, and they did it perfectly,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

Another was Manson\u2019s late try against Bay of Plenty when he scored from a Byron Smith inside ball.<\/p>\n

Bennett said they took a laptop down to the changing room at halftime and showed the backs that there was some inside space, and they capitalised on that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you see that sort of stuff come to fruition in games, that\u2019s the most rewarding part.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot goes into it, but it is something I really enjoy. To now be able to travel with that and do it in a different part of the world with all new staff, it\u2019s going to be a great challenge for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett hails from Tuatapere and headed to Dunedin to study with the initial though to become a PE teacher.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s before he headed down the analyst route.<\/p>\n

He spent 2014 working with the Highlanders as an intern and also stepped back into that role in 2016.<\/p>\n

Then came the opportunity in 2018 with the Stags under then head coach Dale MacLeod.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been through a few coaches, but Dale MacLeod was a big part of me starting my career. He took a chance, and it paid off for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year Bennett had a setback when his full-time, all-year-round role with Rugby Southland was cut back to in-season only.<\/p>\n

He picked up a few hours during the off-season working on club rugby, but it wasn\u2019t enough for all year-round full-time employment.<\/p>\n

While disappointed at the time, Bennett said it has led to his chance to spend six months working in the United States before returning for the NPC.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen your role gets reduced, yes, it sucks, but if that didn\u2019t happen this opportunity probably wouldn\u2019t have come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I still get to be involved with the Stags. I\u2019ve got 80 games under the belt now with the Stags.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett will work with former Australian fullback Chris Latham, who is head coach of the Chicago Hounds.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s looking forward to that experience and building some new connections in the United States competition.<\/p>\n

On top of the rugby, it will be a unique chance for a stint living in the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from out at Tuatapere, so it\u2019s pretty cool coming from a small town like that to be able to do what I do and get to go to Chicago. I think it\u2019s the second-largest city.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited for the opportunity. I\u2019ve had a few Zoom meetings with the team in Chicago over the last few weeks about what they are about as a team and as a franchise, and what they want to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southland Stags video performance analyst Regan Bennett. Southland Stags video performance analyst Regan Bennett has landed a job…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-641709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115744841288881090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}