Poverty Bay Rugby Union have never seen a turn out like it.

Fifty coaches and referees packed into the Rugby Park club rooms in Gisborne on Tuesday night to complete RugbySmart, the compulsory course designed to educate coaches and keep New Zealand's players safe.

And sitting alongside the club and school coaches were the entire Hurricanes coaching staff led by head coach Chris Boyd and his assistant John Plumtree.

Poverty Bay Rugby Union development manager Dwayne Russell runs RugbySmart courses in the union and said the usual attendance would be about 10 to 15 people.

"Having the Hurricanes coaches come along was a first for us and a real coup. They've led the way and our coaches, young and old, followed in behind which was great," Russell said. "We'd like to thank them for choosing Gisborne for their preseason camp for the past two years.

"Hundreds of our youngsters have been able to get up close and meet their heroes this week and now our amateur coaches have been able to learn alongside the professionals."

RugbySmart, which is compulsory for coaches of grades above under 13 level, was established by New Zealand Rugby ten years ago and and has become a key tool in educating coaches about best practice around concussion and gradual return to play protocols, injury management and the prevention of spinal injuries.

Plumtree, who has two teenage boys playing rugby, said it was important for anyone involved in the game to make sure they were up to play with the latest protocols, particularly when it came to concussion.

"Whether you are a professional rugby coach, or at school level, the safety of your players is always paramount. All coaches have a duty to make sure they're up to speed and RugbySmart is a great way to do that."

Plumtree and Boyd were joined on the course by Hurricanes technical coach Richard Watt, high performance manager Chris Stirling, scrum coach Dan Cron, and Wellington Rugby Football Union academy manager Darren Larsen.

Participants were shown a video featuring All Black Sonny Bill Williams and Black Fern Portia Woodman before splitting into groups and demonstrating best practice in concussion management, clean out, tackling and scrum technique.

RugbySmart is funded in partnership by New Zealand Rugby and ACC, which contributes $300,000 into the programme annually and has put $8 million in total toward servicing spinal injuries.