He earned a position in the squad for the encounter against the Japanese national team at Rugby Park Stadium on 4 May 1982.
[1][2] Haig's coaching career began in 1991, where he took up a player-coaching role for Greerton Marist RFC between 1991 and 1993, during the off-season of the National Provincial Championship.
[4] In 1993, he travelled to Scotland, where again, he took up a player-coaching role for Edinburgh based side Preston Lodge RFC.
Between 1995 and 1999, he returned as a player-coach for Mount Maunganui RFC in the Baywide competition, before retiring from rugby in mid 1999.
[8] In 2011, Haig was named as Georgia head coach, after being suggested by Vern Cotter, who was the GRU's first candidate, and the NZRU.
But a 100% win rate in the 2014 season, saw Georgia top the table with 41 points and qualified for the World Cup as Europe 1.
[14] In 2013, Haig led Georgia to third in the table, losing only narrowly, 20–15 to Emerging Ireland and 21–16 to South Africa President's XV.
[17][18] During the 2014 end-of-year rugby union internationals, Haig faced tough opposition at home and away.
A week later, a unique opportunity to face a Six Nations Championship side, in the likes of Ireland in Dublin.
Georgia finished third in their pool, which meant for the first time, they had automatically qualified for the next World Cup, in 2019.
However, Georgia were praised for being massively competitive in their game against New Zealand, causing the All Blacks problems at the scrum, break down and defence.
Georgia became the first team to keep Fiji tryless since Wales defeated them 66–0 in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
On 26 November, Georgia traveled to Scotland to play their first tier 1 nation outside a Rugby World Cup, since Ireland in 2014.
Having beaten all opponents; Belgium 31–6, Germany 50–6, Spain 20–10 and Russia 28–14, leading into the final week the game against Romania was the Championship decider.
During the 2017 Autumn Internationals, Haig led his side to two victories, defeating Canada 54–22, a record winning margin, and the United States 21–20.
In June 2018, Haig took Georgia to the first ever appearance at the World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, where they faced Tonga and Fiji.
At the start of the World Cup year, Georgia convincingly won the 2019 Rugby Europe Championship, winning all five matches.