Thanks to the generosity of a number of our club Vice Presidents, we have arranged some coaching sessions for you with top international coach Paul Turner in the New Year. Jim has previously signalled that this would happen and I'm delighted to give the dates below - it's Wednesdays so make sure you move things around to attend.
Wednesdays 16th and 23rd January
Wednesdays 13th and 20th February
Sessions will be from 7.30pm to 9pm.
The club has been lucky enough to have visits from Paul before when he was at Bedford (and the club hosted an Academy for the County). He is a top quality coach, no doubt about it, and we will all benefit. His whole philosophy is to get the ball moving and involve all 15 players in fast, flowing rugby - much the same as the mantra Jim uses! I'm really looking forward to learning from Paul and I hope you enjoy the sessions.
It is also a great tribute that Vice Presidents believe in you and the Academy and are prepared to put their hands in their pockets to support us.
Tim Jeffries (Academy Team Manager)
Profile of Paul :-
Paul Turner
Qualified Level 4 Rugby Coach
Paul Turner is a qualified Level 4 Coach and former Welsh international player. Paul has been coaching at the top level since 1990 and is one of the most experienced coaches within the Aviva Premiership having coached at clubs such as Saracens, Gloucester, Harlequins and spending 5 years as Director of Rugby in his home region for the Gwent Dragons in Wales. He is currently the Attack and Skills Coach at Premiership side London Wasps.
Paul is highly regarded for his visionary playing ability and for his innovative approach to coaching. During his career as a player he had the innate ability to create space for others, especially under pressure and the skill of being able to use both feet to kick out of hand and at goal. Paul still holds club point scoring records at clubs in Wales. In his playing career it was widely recognised within the principality that Paul should have got more than the three caps he achieved for his country but the emergence of Jonathan Davies at that time proved the decisive factor in this limitation.
Paul sees far too many of the youngsters coming in to the game at junior and academy levels that seem to lack the key skills to progress to the highest level as quickly as clubs would want. These days aspiring forwards as well as backline players must possess the core skills required before entering into the contact arena that is so apparent in Rugby Football.