Gloucester Rugby name former Bath back Nick Walshe and John Muggleton as ...

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Gloucester have moved to strengthen their coaching team following the appointment of David Humphreys as director of rugby earlier this month.

John Muggleton will take on the role of defence coach and Nick Walshe has been named as the new backs and attack coach. Walshe’s arrival means there will be no coaching role at the club for Mike Tindall.

Tindall, who has not been offered a new playing contract, was player/backs coach last season under previous rugby director Nigel Davies.

Chief executive Stephen Vaughan said: “I have spoken to Mike and he has been absolutely first class about the situation.

“Mike undertands that the club are moving in a different direction with a different structure and a different outlook. We are still in dialogue with Mike but he will have an absolute host of opportunities to stay in rugby.”

Vaughan confirmed that the club were still in talks with Trevor Woodman, who was brought in by Davies as forwards coach at the tail-end of last season.

“We are in dialogue with Trevor and we are very hopeful of keeping him at the club as part of the coaching set-up,” said Vaughan.

Muggleton, 54, is a former Australian Rugby League international and was part of the 1982 touring team which became known as ‘The Invincibles’ when they won all 22 games on their tour of England and France.

Once his playing career was over, Sydney-born Muggleton moved into coaching and was defence coach with the Wallabies for 10 years and coincide with their 1999 World Cup win and a series victory over the British and Irish Lions two years later.

A two-year stint with the Scarlets was followed by a spell coaching Georgia at Rugby World 2011, before taking on the role of defence coach with the Melbourne Rebels from 2011 to 2013.

Walshe, 39, is a former Bath, Harlequins, Saracens, Sale, scrum-half but has most recently caught the eye as the coach of the England Under-20s side.

Under his leadership, the England Umder-20s side lifted the IRB Junior World Championship title for the first time in 2013, then successfully defended their championship last week in New Zealand.

Walhse has a spell coaching at Dings Crusaders and Bedford as a player/backs coach. He subsequently joined the RFU Elite Rugby Department as head coach of the England Under-20s

Vaughan added: “I’m delighted that John and Nick are joining us as we prepare for the forthcoming season and we’re very much looking forward to them starting in post shortly.

“I make no apology for the fact that we’ve taken our time with these appointments, but we wanted to make sure that we got absolutely the right individuals in place and that can take time.”

Bristol have been drawn in a group with Connacht, London Scottish and Wales 2 for the 2014-15 British Irish Cup.

The Welsh participants in the British Irish Cup will be based on regional play-offs at the start of the season.

Round one will see Bristol play Irish province Connacht at home, with round two an away clash against London Scottish.

Bristol’s Pool One fixtures – round one (Oct 10/11/12): Bristol v Connacht. Round two (Oct 17/18/19): London Scottish v Bristol. Round three (Oct 24/25/26) Bristol v Wales 2. Round four (Nov 28/29/30): Bristol v Wales 2. Round five (Dec 5/6/7): Bristol v London Scottish. Round six (Dec 12/13/14) Connacht v Bristol. Quarter-finals: 23/24/25 January. Semi-finals: 13/14/15 March. Final: 3/4/5 April.

BI Cup Pools: Pool 1: London Scottish, Wales 2, Bristol, Connacht. Pool 2: Rotherham Titans, Leeds Carnegie, Ulster Ravens, Wales 4. Pool 3: Worcester Warriors, Nottingham Rugby, Moseley, Munster ‘A’. Pool 4: Wales 1, Cornish Pirates, Doncaster, Bedford. Pool 5: Leinster ‘A’, Plymouth Albion, Wales 3, Jersey.

Article source: http://www.express.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/436210/McCall-happy-to-escape-with-win

Gloucester Rugby name former Bath back Nick Walshe and John Muggleton as ...