Rugby Football Union - England Rugby - Booth to join Saxons staff for Barclays Churchill Cup

Booth to join Saxons staff for Barclays Churchill Cup

by Nicki Drinkwater


	Booth: Exile to Saxon photo by Getty

March 13, 2008

London Irish forwards coach Toby Booth will join the England Saxons coaching team for this summer’s Barclays Churchill Cup in North America.

Booth will take the place of Graham Rowntree, who will travel to New Zealand with the senior squad. He will be joined by Saxons Head Coach Steve Bates and Simon Hardy, who alongside Rowntree guided England Saxons to impressive victories over Ireland A (31-13) and Italy A (38-15) last month.

Said Bates, “I’m looking forward to working with Toby, I’ve heard a lot of good things said about him. Simon Hardy knows him well and has nothing but praise for him and the way the London Irish pack is going, especially in Europe, is a first class recommendation for his work.”

Speaking on his appointment, Booth said, "I'm delighted to be given the opportunity to work with the talented players and coaches that are part of the England Saxons set-up. My appointment shows that coaching performance can be rewarded with opportunity."

The primary role of the England Saxons set up is to develop players for test match rugby. With Bath Rugby full back Nick Abendanon, Sale Sharks scrum half Richard Wigglesworth, Leicester Tigers flanker Tom Croft and London Wasp Danny Cipriani all making their England debuts since playing for Saxons in last summer’s Barclays Churchill Cup, Bates has no doubt that the talent is out there.

“I was very pleased with some of the rugby we played during the Six Nations games, I think we saw some great potential,” said Bates, yesterday appointed interim Director of Rugby at Newcastle Falcons. “We’ll be looking to develop that further at the Barclays Churchill Cup, where our aim remains to play a style of rugby that gives everyone the opportunity to contribute and show what they can do.

“Yes our role is to develop players but we are going there as a professional team and I am very positive about our chances of dominating the tournament and of retaining our title.

“The success of the team over the past year has provided the players with the best opportunity for promotion and many of them have made that step up. The fact that they’ve been able to do that shows that the system is working and our job as a management team is to continue that good work in North America this summer.”

The 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup takes place in Canada and the USA this June. England go into the tournament as defending champions, after beating the New Zealand Maori 17-13 at Twickenham in last year’s final. This summer the Saxons face the US Eagles (Jun 7, Ottawa) and Ireland A (June 14, Toronto) in the pool matches. The final is being played in Chicago on 21 June.

For more information on England Saxons please go to www.rfu.com/saxons.

For more information about the Barclays Churchill Cup go to www.barclayschurchillcuprugby.com.

Ends

England Saxons Coach Profiles

TOBY BOOTH
Position: England Saxons Assistant Coach
Born: February 6, 1970, Folkstone, Kent

Toby Booth is rapidly earning himself a reputation as one of England’s most innovating forwards coaches, thanks to his work with London Irish.

Having joined the Exiles as Assistant Academy Manager in 2002, Booth played a key role in setting up and developing the club’s very successful Academy. Since then, Booth has joined many of his young scolars in graduating to the senior squad, initially taking responsibility for scrum and lineout before being appointed Forwards Coach in 2005. Having established the London Irish pack as the most effective in the Guinness Premiership, Booth joins the England Saxons coaching team for the 2008 Barclays Churchill Cup tournament in the USA and Canada.

A graduate of Saint Mary’s College, Twickenham and an RFU qualified Level IV Elite Specialist Coach, the 38-year-old comes from Folkstone in Kent and learned his rugby at Folkstone and Blackheath Rugby Clubs. He has previously coached England Students, Universities and Under 21 teams.

STEVE BATES
Position: England Saxons Head Coach
Born: March 4, 1963, Merthyr Tydfil. Age: 45

Former England scrum half Steve Bates combines his role with England Saxons with his coaching duties at Newcastle Falcons. As a player, Bates enjoyed a long and successful career alongside Rob Andrew at London Wasps. He won one England cap against Romania in Bucharest in the summer of 1989 and toured South Africa with England in 1994.

Moving up north, he took a coaching role with Newcastle Falcons in 1995, before becoming the club’s Head Coach until 2003, when he left to take over as Director of Rugby at Borders, whom he led into the Heineken Cup.

Bates went on to coach Scotland A at the Barclays Churchill Cup in 2006, beating England Saxons 13-7 in Toronto, before returning to Kingston Park as Coaching and Technical Director in the summer of 2007.

As a teacher at Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, he was instrumental in the development of the young Jonny Wilkinson, who joined the Falcons on his recommendation in 1997.

SIMON HARDY
Position: RFU National Academy Coach and England Saxons Assistant Coach
Born: 16.10.56, Oxford

Simon Hardy is a World Cup winner with England, having been the specialist lineout coach for 81 Tests, including the Six Nations winning sides of 2000 and 2001 and a memorable 2003 when they won a Grand Slam, beat New Zealand and Australia Down Under and then returned to Sydney to lift the Webb Ellis Cup. In his specialist capacity, he also worked with the England team in advance of last year’s 2007 Rugby World Cup.

A hooker for Saracens, Wasps and England U23 before his playing career was ended by injury, the Loughborough University graduate joined the Rugby Football Union as Youth Development Officer for Hertfordshire in 1990.

He became South West Technical Administrator two years later and was National Coach Development Manager between 1994 and 1999. He joined England part-time before the 1999 World Cup, going full-time in 2000.

As one of the RFU’s National Academy Coaches, he works as a coach and mentor with England’s up and coming players. This will be his second stint with England Saxons, having been part of the successful 2006 Churchill Cup coaching team.