adminPaul Munyuki Sports Reporter
TWO years after giving up his job as Cheetahs coach, Liam Middleton has bounced back into the Zimbabwe Rugby Union structures as director of rugby. A month after the ZRU advertised the job, the former Cheetahs coach told The Herald that he would love to come back and work for Zimbabwe rugby and it was yesterday that the union appointed him to the highest technical job in local rugby.
Before bouncing back as the ZRU director of rugby, Middleton had been unattached since March when he left Bristol Rugby Club and was replaced by former Scotland head coach, Andy Robinson.
Among his duties, Middleton — an IRB Level IV accredited coach and coach educator — will be responsible for coach development and education programmes.
Having previously held various coaching posts in England where he spent most of his coaching career and also leading Zimbabwe to a Bowl in the 2009 World Cup, the ZRU has seen it fit that Middleton takes up the director of coaching post in a move aimed at restructuring the technical aspect of Zimbabwe rugby. The ZRU also says that among his major roles, the director of coaching will be responsible for managing the performance and appointment of technical staff, and overseeing the performance analysis of representative teams in Zimbabwe,
He is also expected to set out a clear strategy for the development of Zimbabwe rugby’s high performance programme over the next five years and most importantly manage the playing structure of competitive rugby.
By virtue of holding an IRB Level IV accredited coach and coach educator certificates, Middleton is the highest qualified coach in Zimbabwe. During his stint as the Cheetahs coach, Middleton’s highest achievement was when he led the Zimbabwe Sevens side to lifting the 2009 Sevens World Cup Bowl in Dubai before leaving the reins to current coach Gilbert “Gidza” Nyamutsamba.
This is not the first time that Middleton has been involved in such a role, having held the same post at Cheltenham RFC in England between 2005 and 2009, guiding the side to promotion into the national leagues in 2009, where the team scored a record number of league tries in the club’s history.
Middleton started his coaching career with the Under-15s team at Howick High School in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, in 2000, two years before he joined Hartpury College Rugby Academy in England as a performance manager in a joint venture between the college and Premiership club Gloucester RFC. This was before he coached the college side with former Wales assistant coach, Allan Lewis, to win the British University Championship in three consecutive seasons and the college’s first University 7s title.
However, it was in 2009 – the same year he won the World Cup Bowl with the Cheetahs – that his reputation for identifying and developing talented players was created, having been appointed to the post of academy manager at Bristol Rugby Football Club.
Statistics show that the academy process established by Middleton produced 13 players who went on to represent various national sides and notably England and British and Irish Lions prop Mako Vunipola.
During the 2010 season, Middleton assisted Paul Hull in the coaching of the Bristol 1st XV where they were winners of the British and Irish Cup, beating Bedford Blues in the final. In July 2011 Liam was promoted to the post of head coach at Bristol Rugby Club. Known as an innovative and tactically astute coach, he guided the Bristol first team from eighth place in the RFU Championship to first position, topping the league by seven clear points. During his time in charge he led the club on their longest run of home victories in the club’s history, and boasted an unbeaten record against perennial Championship performers Bedford Blues.
In September 2012, he was named as an assistant coach for the Championship XV to play against the New Zealand Maoris but withdrew due to family commitments.
ZRU vice-president, Colleen de Jong, feels this is the right time to have a director of rugby – more than a decade since they last had this post in their structures.
“It’s about time that we engage someone who will be responsible for national technical planning for all levels of rugby in Zimbabwe and we were not only looking at coaches from Zimbabwe but anywhere else.
“It is part of our plans to consolidate the Union’s functions so that we all work towards the same goal and it has all got to do with the technical aspect of Zimbabwe rugby set up, development, the up-scaling of coaches and structures.
Online Reporter