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United Rugby Championship

Ampthill club statement: Paul Turner and Dragons

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)

English Championship club Ampthill have issued a statement in the wake of the announcement in Wales that head coach Paul Turner is to take up a consultancy role with Dragons, the URC region.

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Rather than the link being of concern to the second-tier club, who are currently third in their league after two wins in their opening three matches, Ampthill have given 63-year-old ex-Wales international Turner their blessing to take up the consultancy as well as continuing as head coach with the Bedfordshire outfit.

A statement read: “The club would like to congratulate head coach Paul Turner on his appointment to a part-time consultancy role with Dragons RFC.”

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Director of rugby Mark Lavery added: “Paul is highly respected in the game in England and Wales, and it is no surprise that a club of Dragons’ stature and their new board would want input from him in developing their player recruitment, scouting links and pathway systems.

“This appointment compliments his role as Ampthill’s head coach and we wish him every success.”

Under head coach Dai Flanagan, Dragons have endured an underwhelming start to their new URC season, losing all four matches so far and their two-point haul has them in 15th place, 13 points behind the Bulls, the campaign’s early front runners.

Dragons host the Ospreys in Newport next Saturday while Ampthill’s next Championship fixture is the previous night away to London Scottish. It was 12 years ago when Turner was last involved at the Dragons, exiting as head coach in 2011.

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Ardy 5 hours ago
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JD Kiwi 6 hours ago
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Tom 9 hours ago
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My first thought was “damn that's a good Lions backrow, Lawes, Willis, Simmonds” my second thought was “why the fk aren't any of these guys playing for England?!”

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Bull Shark 10 hours ago
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RW 12 hours ago
There's only one answer to the Springboks' fly-half conundrum

Improve the the chat, block Turlough

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DP 13 hours ago
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Rob 13 hours ago
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Bull Shark 14 hours ago
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DG 16 hours ago
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I’m surprised that Craig Wright isn’t getting a mention. His performances, throughout the World Champs were consistently great and his stats must be up there. He very active in the open and appeared to do a great job in the scrum, but I’m no expert!

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RugbyAnalysis 16 hours ago
Why England should take Joe Marler’s advice and build for the future in the front row

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Turlough 16 hours ago
There's only one answer to the Springboks' fly-half conundrum

I think SAs problem is one of arrogance. Their boasting and goading before the Irish series was a perfect example of it. Ebens blood covered face is a good reminder of where lack of humility gets you. Hopefully they can proceed with more honour and less arrogance from now on. Pollard kicked 100% versus Ireland and still lost. Change it now.

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MO 17 hours ago
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WR 17 hours ago
There's only one answer to the Springboks' fly-half conundrum

Tough one but I disagree. Putting Libbok in most matches will cost us. Especially against better teams. He just doesn't have what it takes. Aside from his kicking woes, he is a very good player. Pollard are the best option for tough games, but SFM is the best choice for me. He can do what both other players can do. He can play more positions than them. He is the best SA have now and will be for a very long time to come. We have an absolute super star like Kolbe, KLA and Moody in SFM. Time to get him in that 10 jersey and let him show case his absolute class. To let him grow and learn all he can from Tony Brown as we won't have TB for always. Most likely only until 2027. NZ will want him back. Time to cash in and go for broke. ML as an impact player might be a better option unless it's against a top 5 team, then best to have HP on the bench in case. That's not experience that can be chucked away. That would be stupid. We have WLR and DW at 15, HP and SFM at flyhalf. If anything, why not see how ML performs as a a scrum half? I know it's not his usual position, but he can be converted. You can't exchange what (in my personal opinion) is one of the best centre pairings currently in the world for ML or HP. That would be a disaster. No, we need HP at least on the bench playing top 5 in the WR.

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WR 17 hours ago
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Well, on X they claim they beat SA by 2-1 and won the series against SA. Nevermind that it's 2 different competitions with completely different players, and a completely different country. AGAIN, they think that talking about it and claiming it, that they are the winners. That they DESERVE IT. Yet, as per usual, they CHOKED AGAIN in the quarterfinals. The Boks had 2 good games. That's it. The French is a different story altogether. They know how to reach a final. 2 games to go for either Gold or Bronze. Good news that, but coming in 4th don't get medals, so the Boks have to get in the final to be assured of a medal. It won't be easy. Only teams that CAN play is still in the competition, not teams that thinks talking themselves into a medal will get them a medal. Fiji is now the favorites would be my guess, but anyone can take it from here. Good luck Boks!! As usual you have my full support💯

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Mzilikazi 17 hours ago
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Thanks , Brett. It will be a very powerful Lions team, but the WB’s will be stronger too, would be my feeling. I don’t see it being all one way traffic.

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StephenE 17 hours ago
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Bull Shark 17 hours ago
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I see shifting from 7s to 15s as a pretty logical and good developmental step for good rugby players. But going 15s to 7s makes little sense for most. Which is why I agree AdP is a freak. Which is why France will win the gold and smash everyone as the rightful no.1 favourites!

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Bull Shark 17 hours ago
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WR 18 hours ago
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My comment disappeared

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