The talented centre was a key man for Gloucester over the course of 13 years, where he scored 46 tries and would have likely been capped by England if not for a series of bad injuries.
Now after a brief stint at French ProD2 club Vannes, the 32-year-old is about to take his first steps up the coaching ladder where he will take charge of the club’s attack alongside his playing duties.
“I played under a lot of really good coaches at Gloucester, and I’d like to take a bit from each one,” he said.
“I was a big fan of Nigel Davies in particular. He was exactly the same as Ampthill coach Paul Turner in the fact that he wanted to play open rugby, he wanted front foot ball to play an exciting brand of rugby. Johan Ackerman was similar – he wanted to run the ball and really attack teams.
“Bryan Redpath was also very good and it’s about finding a balance and taking the best out of all of them.
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Denne historien er fra August 15, 2021-utgaven av The Rugby Paper.
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