A week in rugby

They say a week in politics is a long time. Well it seems a week in rugby is too. In fact everything happened within around 24 hours.

In my last blog I announced I was to be scrum coach at Clifton RFC. Well, regrettably, that is no longer the case.

Ever since retiring at the end of the last rugby season my goal was to get myself a coaching position at a local club. I was hoping to be a Head coach somewhere so when Clifton came knocking at my door I jumped at the chance.

The position, however, was never ideal as the coaching was to be in a more limited capacity due to Matt Salter already having the position of Head Coach/Forwards coach.  Nonetheless, it was a good opportunity and I relished the chance to work with with such an experienced coach.

I have been coaching at Clifton for the last 2 weeks and really enjoyed it but I was contacted by Mike Burton, who was my agent way back when (1997), who told me that Lydney RFC wanted to interview me for the position of Head Coach. I have always been very loyal during my professional rugby career and I was initially very hesitant about a meeting as I had already decided to coach at Clifton. Having said that, I felt that I couldn’t pass up the offer of a meeting, as the position I had always wanted was Head Coach.

I turned up at Lydney for an interview with the Chairman and senior committee members at the start of the week. I was shocked and surprised when I looked out at the first team pitch. Low and behold who were training there? None other than Bath Rugby (they have been staying locally for their pre-season training camp) “This is a sign” I said to myself.

All joking aside, following the meeting I realised that this was an opportunity I could not possibly turn down in terms of my potential future as a rugby coach. Do I feel guilty and a little embarrassed for joining and leaving Clifton RFC so quickly? Yes of course I do. In no way did I want to do that. Having said that if I had received both offers simultaneously then there is no doubt that Lydney would definitely be the right option for me.

The remaining and ongoing problem is that Lydney and Clifton are in the same league this year so I hope there will be no sour grapes and I’m looking forward to a couple of good old ding-dong matches in the year ahead.