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Gloucester recruit ‘absolute best fit’ attack coach from London Irish
Just 12 hours after it was revealed that defence coach Brad Davis is off to coach the Wallabies attack at the upcoming Rugby World Cup, London Irish confirmed that academy backs coach James Lightfoot Brown will take up the attack coach position at Gloucester for the 2023/24 season.
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The 29-year-old Lightfoot Brown joined the coaching staff at London Irish in 2015 after representing England 7s in his playing career. Director of rugby Declan Kidney said: “We wish James all the best for the future and look forward to seeing him continue his development as a coach.
“James has played a big part in the development of our younger players, many of these players are regularly in our matchday squads. He has been an important part of our coaching setup over the past few years, and he will be missed around Hazelwood.”
Lightfoot Brown added: “I have had an incredible time in my eight years at London Irish and I can’t thank everyone at the club enough. The decision to leave was not one that was taken lightly but one I felt I had to make at this stage in my career. I’ll be leaving behind amazing memories and some great friends who will remain so beyond my time at the club.
“I’d like to thank Declan Kidney, the first team coaches, the staff and in particular Les Kiss for the role he has played in my time at the club.
“I’d also like to thank Patrick O’Grady and the academy staff, who do such a fantastic job at nurturing the club’s upcoming talent. The future of London Irish is incredibly bright with the talent they have on and off the pitch and I wish Irish all the best for the future.”
A corresponding statement from Gloucester read: “Highly regarded as one of the best up-and-coming coaches in the country, Lightfoot Brown has played a key part in developing a conveyor belt of talent into the Premiership. His role in instilling attacking principles, from the academy through to the first team, has seen the Exiles display an increasingly expansive brand of rugby this season.
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“Lightfoot Brown’s appointment is an extension to the current coaching team, with Tim Taylor taking up the role of skills and backs transition coach.”
Head coach George Skivington said: “We have made no secret about looking to expand our coaching team ahead of the new season and James’ signature is one that we are really pleased to get over the line. We had a pretty clear vision of the type of person and coach we were looking for and James proved to be the absolute best fit for us.
“He’s a young English coach, but with plenty of experience under his belt already. He’s well regarded as one of the most exciting coaches in the game, so we’re really looking forward to him putting his stamp onto our attack next season.”
Lightfoot Brown added: “I’m incredibly excited to be joining Gloucester Rugby. There’s a clear draw to the club, the history, the fanbase and the ambition for the future, it’s a great place to be.
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“The quality of players that we have at the club is incredible and after speaking with George and the coaching staff at Gloucester, there is a real ambition to develop our game further next season and that’s something I can’t wait to get stuck into.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments