Novice coaches Glackin and Halsey confident of making impact

THEY might not compete at the highest levels these days but being in charge of Rugby Lions inevitably carries a huge burden of historical expectation. This season that responsibility will be shared by two novice coaches, Peter Glackin and Steve Halsey, who have stepped into the breach following Mark Ellis’s departure to London Scottish. But they are confident that the team ethic they are

building at Webb Ellis Road will allow the famous old club to make an impact on Division Two North.

Both in their early 30s, the duo’s playing careers were cut short in their prime – second-row Halsey by a back injury and fly-half Glackin, who also had spells at Coventry and Nuneaton, by a heel problem – and worked under Ellis as forwards and backs specialists.

“I would think we’re probably the youngest coaches at this level,” Glackin said, “and we’re very excited to get the opportunity.

“We had a taste of it last season when Mark was away for eight weeks and the fact that we’re the same age as some of the players hasn’t proved a problem – when it comes to things like selection you have to draw a line under friendship and come to a professional understanding.”

Former first-team coach Tony Hunt will offer sage advice in his new mentor role and Glackin insisted: “We’ve got a lot of good people around us and we think the fact there are two of us is a positive thing.

“We look at the game from different angles – me from a more attacking point of view and Steve from a defensive perspective – and so far it seems to be working very well.”

There have been several departures since the end of last season but Glackin is confident that they have a better balance this time round. “There were times when the team spirit was fantastic – when we held London Scottish at our place for instance – but that seemed to fall away as the season went on. We wondered what the problem was and thought it possibly came down to the personnel. We’ve signed something like 20 players this term and they’re a real mixture.

“We’ve got three Army lads based at Bramcote, a couple of players from Cambridge in the league above us, a couple from Barkers Butts, two Academy boys from Bedford Blues.

“We started off with the bare bones but now we’ve got a squad of 45 and, most important, they are all players who buy into what we’re trying to do.”