From Lower Hutt in Wellington, he toured with the All Blacks to France in 1990 and to Argentina the following year and his first experience of northern hemisphere club rugby was with Sale in 1996.

He moved south to Gloucester in 1998 and in January 2001 his six penalties helped them to a 21-15 Heineken Cup quarter final win over Cardiff Blues at Kingsholm.

Mannix landed five penalties in the semi final defeat (19-15) against Leicester on the same day that Munster were beaten 16-15 by Stade Francais in Lille's Stadium Nord.

He had one more season playing in Britain with Bridgend in the Amlin Challenge Trophy.

Backs Coach with Racing Metro 92, when they won promotion to the Top 14 and when they played in the Heineken Cup for the first time in 2010/11, his tenure with the Parisian club came to an end in December last year after a disagreement with Head Coach Pierre Berbizier.

Simon Mannix pictured at CIT today with Duncan Willams and Stephen Archer