The oldest Hurricane, Phil Coffin was an icon of New Zealand provincial rugby, having played 142 times for King Country and had a season playing in Auckland in 1988 by the time of his Hurricanes debut.

Coffin, a specialist tighthead prop, was the cornerstone of the Hurricanes front row in the inaugural 1996 season, and was chosen for the All Blacks tour of South Africa later that year, playing three midweek games.

While playing for King Country, Coffin was a regular All Blacks trialist between 1987 and 1996, was in a New Zealand XV which faced England B in 1992, played for New Zealand Maori between 1991 and 1997 and in the Divisional XV of 1991-92.

Coffin played for the Hurricanes in 1996 and 1997, before retiring from rugby later in the 1997 while playing for Wellington in the NPC. Coffin played for the Waitete club in the King Country,  the late Sir Colin Meads' club.