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Nick Easter has taken on a job in the third tier of English rugby

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Ex-England No8 Nick Easter has dropped down two divisions to start working again in rugby after losing his job two months ago when Worcester went to the wall. The Warriors’ financial collapse resulted in all players and staff – including defence and forwards coach Easter – losing their jobs just three games into the 2022/23 Gallagher Premiership season.

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It was a particularly bitter pill for Easter to swallow as he had left Newcastle in the off-season for the opportunity to work alongside director of rugby Steve Diamond, only to have his stay at Worcester abruptly ended by the club’s financial mismanagement.

It was October 5 when Easter tweeted: “Only at Worcester Warriors a short time but the players, staff and supporters have had a lasting impact. Heartbroken the journey has ended. It’s also very clear who your friends are in a crisis.”

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That crisis has now resulted in Easter agreeing just over eight weeks later to become the director of rugby at Chinnor, the Oxfordshire club that is in the lower reaches of the National One division after two wins and a draw in their opening eleven matches before they hosted bottom club Hull on Saturday.

National One is the third tier league in the English pyramid and this season’s champions will be promoted to a 2023/24 Championship that could feature a taken-over Worcester and also Wasps, the other Premiership club that went bust in recent weeks.

A statement on the grassroots club’s website read: “Chinnor RFU Thame is pleased to announce the appointment of Nick Easter as director of rugby. The 44-year-old will begin the role next week and joins our club with a wealth of playing and coaching experience at the highest level. Easter, who played at three World Cups for England, was most recently defence and forwards coach at Worcester Warriors. The former No8 made 281 appearances for Harlequins during his playing career and represented his country 54 times.

“After hanging up his boots, Easter spent two years as Harlequins’ defence coach before joining Natal Sharks in South Africa as forwards and attack coach, helping them win the Currie Cup in 2018. Nick returned to England in 2020, becoming the defence and breakdown coach at Newcastle Falcons before moving on to Worcester.”

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Easter said: “I’m looking forward to this opportunity and I’m delighted to become the club’s new director of rugby. Chinnor is a fantastic community club and the aim is to build on what has been achieved here in recent years.”

Chinnor head coach Craig Hampson added: “We told the boys at training Thursday night and there was a brilliant reaction. It’s a great signing for the club to bring in someone with his experience as both a player and a coach. Myself, the rest of the coaching team, and the players are really looking forward to working with him.”

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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