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Cardiff attack coach search continues after target secures new role

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 9: Gloucester-Hartpury's Assistant Coach Matt Banahan during the Allianz Premier 15s match between Harlequins Ladies and Gloucester Rugby-Hartpury Women at The Stoop on November 9, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Bob Bradford - CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Former England winger and Matt Banahan has landed a job as backs/attack coach of Championship outfit Hartpury RFC.

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It is the 39-year-old’s first full-time coaching role in the men’s professional game, with the Bath legend having previously worked with Scotland Women and latterly Gloucester-Hartpury in Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR).

Banahan and Hartpury Rugby Head of Performance, Martin Haag, share a Bath connection and he was a member of the same Scotland coaching team as Haag.

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The Bath Rugby Hall of Famer had been on Cardiff’s radar but he has opted to stay much closer to home.

“It’s good news for us, we have been trying to get someone in for a while. He’s been doing a little bit of coaching with us, with the RFC anyway, because Luke Cozens left; he’s a good young coach,” said Haag.

“He’ll do backs/attack for the RFC and he’ll be lead coach on the AASE programme as well. He’ll fit under Tim Brockett who’s the senior academy manager but he’ll do a lot of the delivery, so he’s got a dual role.”

Hartpury RFC qualified for the end-of-season play-offs in the Champ after finishing the regular season in sixth. However, a 28-25 defeat to Coventry in the quarter-finals saw their campaign come to an end this weekend.

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Banahan will join a coaching staff led by long-serving head coach Mark Cornwell, which includes other retired PREM players in Ashley Johnson (defence) and Ryan Bower (scrum).

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Earlier this month Leicester confirmed that this season would be Wells' 13th and last at the club, after more than 200 appearances for the Tigers.

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Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

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Comments on RugbyPass

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Utiku Old Boy 43 minutes ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

As much as we talk up the benefit of having “experienced” players for major tournaments (like RWC), an experienced coach is potentially even more valuable. A coach does not start to have less relevant experience as they age - IF they stay open to learning and can then incorporate new information into their experienced data base to evaluate positives and negatives. Plus, they don’t have to perform physically like older players do!

I think Rennie has shown a lot of smarts by this action. NB, you make some great points about the challenge our front row will have against the Boks and whether we have the men who can rise to that challenge. With Lomax and Williams questionable, our second row could play a big role as cnw points out. Agree with Otagoman II, De Groot is playing his best ever.



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Otagoman II 46 minutes ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Cheers NB. There is no obvious candidate to counter Louw in NZ, so I think work with whst you’ve got. Ryan will be under instruction to get the whole pack humming to it’s very best or think of some new skullduggery. De Groot is having his best Super season so far with his fitness playing deep into the 2nd half.

Highlander news: Bad-poor Tangitau achilles rupture. Will he come back the same player.



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D
DP 50 minutes ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

No. It won’t. NZ need their offshore players. This is the Achilles heel.

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D
Derek Murray 1 hour ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

As much as the whole idea pi55es me off, it’s a mouth-watering prospect for rugby fans.

I fail to understand why Argentina and RA haven’t looked at something similar



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c
cnw 1 hour ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Excellent article Nick. Some of it painful for an AB supporter! And you have nailed it. So much talk of ABs bringing the chaos back (which is important) but unless they can respond to the THP power of the Boks at key moments, they will be toast. I had not thought about De Groot as impact, but that makes a lot of sense. The height issue too is interesting. Numia at 190 is shorter but at only 114kgs it will be like Mighty Mouse v the Hulks. And this has me focusing on the wider picture - from memory in the clips where Louw liquefies Williams he’s supported by Snyman and in the clips where Williams looks good, they have a three lock second row with Holland at 6. Perhaps that is an area to develop with a score of powerful mobile locks who could move there.

And how will England respond to this? Looking forward to seeing that match up.



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Poorfour 1 hour ago
2026 Guinness Women's Six Nations | RugbyPass' Team of Round 5

While I appreciate the effort not just to pick the Red Roses, that’s extremely harsh on both the Roses who’ve been excluded (Kabeya, Harrison and Feaunati especially) and their opponents - Fall-Raclot caused the English defence all sorts of problems.

As long as the Roses remain this dominant, It might be better to do an “anyone but England” XV to contrast with them.



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B
Blackmania 1 hour ago
Jeff Wilson: 'He will change the way the All Blacks play'

Maybe Will Jordan will move back to the wing, maybe Damian McKenzie will play at 15 (it’s already been tested and I’m not particularly convinced), maybe we’ll go back to a 14/15 setup with two fullbacks like in the great eras of the New Zealand national rugby union team (Jeff Wilson / Christian Cullen, Cory Jane / Israel Dagg, Ben Smith / Israel Dagg, Nehe Milner-Skudder / Ben Smith), and in that case Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens is a good candidate. Callum Harkin looks pretty good too…or Josh Moorby ?

Maybe we’ll have two powerful wingers like Leicester Fainga’anuku and Caleb Clarke.



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NoLongerARuck 1 hour ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

I get what you are saying but Ox Nche and TDT are an established combo who have scrummed plenty together. Wilco is a man mountain, he could hold the scrum up himself. He has a great combo with Jan Hendrik and Gerhard Steenekamp. His massive size also complements having a more mobile loosehead which is what the Boks have in their bomb squad. So Wilco I reckon is better off the bench

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rJ 1 hour ago
Caluori and BJVR two of seven uncapped players in 42-man England squad

For a long time I’ve thought Borthwick does not understand back play. Radwan the fastest man in English rugby has finally been recognised. now Ojomoh the best current inside centre England is ignired. Bath seems to be out of favour.

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GrahamVF 1 hour ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

I would like to see Wilco start and Thomas take over at half time. I think Thomas gets about the park more effectively than Wilco and is more effective in a looser game while still maintaining the scrumming power.

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N
NB 1 hour ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Don’t need to speculate C, his rugby mind is still very much all there - and surprisingly current.😁

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NB 1 hour ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

As it happens I talked to him only the other day HH.

He’s still sharp as a tack as far as rugby trends go, so your guesswork ‘but as far as coaching and analytics, strategy in the modern game - he’s past his prime’ is way off.



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NoLongerARuck 1 hour ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

You can feel NZ falling back on experience, falling back on tradition and looking to go back to what works. Every move and appointment so far has been smart and is designed to win back confidence and belief and this latest appointment will certainly bolster them. The brains trust, both new and old, seem to be working together to try to meet this challenge head on. They will need every bit of experience they can get because this job will not be easy.

Lets not forget that NZ fired a coach for the first time mid cycle in the modern era. They are losing talent and experience from their domestic system seemingly faster than it can be replaced, their coaching set up will have just a few weeks to prepare a group of players who have been winning at 70-75 percent for the past 7 years for this new era and they will be coming up against a side coached by the same group for the last 8 years, who have won 2 world cups in a row, who are leading rugby in terms of innovation and trends and who have an inside track on them with a world leading NZ coach on the ticket.



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M
Mark 1 hour ago
The five biggest selection casualties from England's latest squad

JV rensburgs inclusion is a complete travesty, and simply amplifies that Borthwick is simply casting about in the dark re centre combinations and selections more generally.

It would be interesting to see on what criteria the RFU concluded that he was still the man to take England fwd to the WC.



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Ed the Duck 2 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

Hmmm wasn’t razor meant to be the new dawn of youth and enthusiasm?

No idea how ted fares on analytics or modern strategies these days but I’d hazard a guess he knows about players and after all, human nature doesn’t change. Either way, Rennie is nobody’s fool and he wouldn’t have brought him onboard unless he had faith.



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M
Mark 2 hours ago
Caluori and BJVR two of seven uncapped players in 42-man England squad

Some very odd inclusions and exclusions in this squad!!

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B
Bhobson 2 hours ago
Caluori and BJVR two of seven uncapped players in 42-man England squad

Some key players missing, although no expectations with Borthwick. He will be found out eventually hopefully sooner rather than later.

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C
Carlos 3 hours ago
Sir Graham Henry is the All Blacks' new kingmaker - and lords of the scrum high on his agenda

How do you know that? Just speculating behind a keyboard? You’ve spoken with him recently?

I met him around 20 years ago when he came to give a lecture in NYC and he invited me to sit down with him and chat at a near pub afterwards. He ordered a glass of Malbec in my “honor” instead of his usual. He was charming, insightful and generous. But I will not say what he’s thinking of rugby these days. I won’t speculate.



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unknown 3 hours ago
Caluori and BJVR two of seven uncapped players in 42-man England squad

That’s not the best squad that could’ve been picked with players available. Borthwick is useless and continues to hold England back.

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JS 3 hours ago
Caluori and BJVR two of seven uncapped players in 42-man England squad

Atkinson was so poor against Sarries and was outplayed by Hartley. He seems to have a lot of credit in the bank and Ojomoh none.

Slade ahead of Lawrence is hard to understand even if you wanted to select Van Rensberg.



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