News

Rowntree named Johnson's aide

August 07 2008

England boss Martin Johnson has promoted Graham Rowntree to his Assistant Coach with immediate effect.

The appointment sees Rowntree depart his old position of National Academy Coach after just over a year at the helm to work specifically with John Wells but also Mike Ford and Brian Smith.

The former prop was directly involved with the England Saxons team that won both of its Six Nations fixtures and was also attached to the senior coaching team at Rugby World Cup 2007.

"Graham is an excellent coach and his knowledge of scrummaging is first rate," said Johnson.

"I enjoyed playing alongside him during our time at Leicester Tigers and I look forward to working with Graham as a member of the coaching team."

Rowntree was equally delighted with the promotion and is confident that his recent work with the Rugby Football Union will be profitable in his new role.

"The last year at the RFU has been very enjoyable and I've learned a lot," he said.

"I've gained a lot of experience from working alongside the senior squad and as part of the Academy structure and it has all been invaluable to my development as a coach."

Meanwhile, Elite Rugby Director, Rob Andrew found time to hail the English coaching system for its continued plan to nurture home-grown talent.

"Graham's appointment underlines one of the Elite Rugby Department's objectives of providing opportunities for our coaches from within our own Elite Coaching programmes and structure," Andrew said.

"John Wells and now Graham have come through that system and while we will always keep an open mind on other appointments to the coaching team I'm delighted that Graham has made such rapid progress."