Rowntree to mold English pack
Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:23
New England manager Martin Johnson has promoted his former Leicester teammate Graham Rowntree to the senior England coaching set-up as a scrummaging specialist.
The former Tigers and England prop has spent the last year working with the National Academy set-up, but he did travel to last year's World Cup.
Johnson promoted Rowntree to work specifically with forwards coach John Wells, but also Mike Ford and Brian Smith.
The appointment takes place with immediate effect.
Rowntree, while working as a National Academy coach, was directly involved with the England Saxons team that won both of its Six Nations fixtures and was attached to the England coaching team at last year's World Cup.
Johnson said Rowntree is an "excellent coach" and his knowledge of scrummaging is first rate.
"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 said: "The last year at the RFU has been very enjoyable and I've learned a lot. 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."
Elite Rugby Director, Rob Andrew MBE said: "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.
"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."
