Bristol to promote from within after revealing they will lose assistant Jonathan Thomas at the end of this season
Former Warriors captain Jonathan Thomas is to return to Sixways as forwards coach for the 2020/2021 season. The former Wales flanker will take over the forwards coaching from Rory Duncan, who departs from the club by mutual agreement at the end of the current season.
Thomas is currently forwards coach at Bristol Bears and a member of the coaching team under director of rugby Pat Lam that has guided them to the top of the Gallagher Premiership after four rounds of matches this season.
Thomas made 44 appearances for Warriors between 2013 and 2015 before retiring. He has since made a smooth transition into coaching, joining Bristol as defence and forwards coach in 2016 before moving into his current role last year.
“JT shares the passion and ambition we all have for Warriors to become a successful Premiership club,” said Warriors’ director of rugby Alan Solomons.
“He was a popular and respected captain of the club and is excited by the prospect of returning to Sixways and working with a talented squad, particularly the outstanding crop of youngsters that we have coming through.
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“JT played at the highest level, winning 67 caps for Wales, and he also had a long and distinguished club career with Ospreys and Warriors. Since ending his playing career, JT has become an exceptional forwards coach and has had the advantage of working under the tutelage of Pat Lam for the last three years.
“I have known JT since 2017 when we worked together during the time I was employed as a consultant at Bristol Rugby. He is a fantastic bloke, an outstanding leader and an exceptionally gifted young coach. He is passionate, ambitious and enthusiastic and will be a great asset to the club. I am really looking forward to working with him again.”
Thomas, 36, will not need to relocate when he joins Warriors as he has continued to live in south Worcestershire during his time with Bristol. His impending return to Sixways has been welcomed by Warriors co-owners Colin Goldring and Jason Whittingham.
You have got to like Chris Pennell's bold prediction despite Worcester winning only 58 of 220 games in his 10 Premiership Rugby campaigns https://t.co/69DA2RgvCa
— liam heagney (@heagneyl) October 16, 2019
“JT was an accomplished international forward with proven experience as a successful Premiership forwards coach,” they said. “It’s an exciting time for Warriors with improvements on and off the pitch. JT is joining a great team in the rugby department and it feels like we are building something special at the club.
“It’s great to see the incredible people Worcester has produced now wanting to be a part of the Warriors family again because they believe in the club’s culture, strength and vision for the future. JT was a big part of the club’s history and it’s fantastic that he will also now be a part of its future”.
John Muldoon will take over from Thomas as Bristol forwards coach ahead of the 2020/21 campaign. The 36-year-old joined Bristol Bears in the summer of 2018 as defence coach, helping the club to the highest Premiership finish in twelve years.
Lam said: “We’re delighted that John will be stepping up into the role of forwards coach. He’s excited about the opportunity to build on the excellent foundations that JT has put in place.
Entertaining insight from @JohnMuldoon8 as he reflects on @premrugby year one at @BristolBears following his switch from @connachtrugby ? #bristolrugby #premiershiprugby
https://t.co/DXvfyEPlhB— liam heagney (@heagneyl) July 14, 2019
“Our philosophy at Bristol Bears is to ideally promote from within and develop our staff to become world-class in their fields. That’s the key thing about our vision, when personnel leave, the systems and structures that have been put in place means that the next person steps in to add value to the good work that’s being done.
“John has all the ingredients to be an outstanding coach, as he has already shown in his efforts with the team defence. We have worked together for a long time and he’s a natural leader. The boys respect him and he knows our systems in great detail.
“The entire management team are closely aligned in everything we do – we want to be the most dominant pack in the league and John can help deliver that ambition.”
WATCH: RugbyPass looks back on some of our favourite moments with the fans at the World Cup in Japan
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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
4 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 comments