Coaching legend Sir Ian McGeechan has taken up the position of consultant director of rugby at Doncaster Knights.
The Yorkshire-born ex-Scotland international boasts a CV which includes four Lions tours (with two series wins), Scotland’s last Grand Slam and only Rugby World Cup semi-final appearance, one Premiership, European Cup and Premiership Cup title each with Wasps, and a Championship title with Northampton Saints.
It is the second tier that McGeechan will return to, taking on the position with the Knights second in the table 12 points behind leaders Ealing Trailfinders.
Steve Lloyd, president of the Doncaster Knights said: βAfter a relationship spanning a number of years, during which we have both fought, with others, for the betterment of Championship rugby, together with our mutual passion for Yorkshire rugby, Ian, or Geech to all who know him, very willingly agreed to come and give us a hand creating the future at Castle Park.
“We continue to be focussed on development at Doncaster Knights, whether that be players, coaches or the club itself and I cannot think of a better mentor for Head Coach Joe Ford or a better fount of knowledge for the whole team and the clubβs development generallyβ.
McGeechan has not held a coaching position since he was Yorkshire Carnegie’s interim director of rugby for a brief period in 2015, with his seven-year spell as executive president of that club ending in an acrimonious exit in 2019 shortly before the club was forced to become semi-professional.
McGeechan had sought to return the club that he played all his domestic rugby for – formerly known as Headingley FC and now known as Leeds Tykes – to the Premiership, but after funding ran out from previously reliable sources he resigned following a “fiery” board meeting.
His appointment will nonetheless undoubtedly be seen as a brilliant coup for the Knights, and his boardroom experience will serve them well in their dispute – along with the rest of the Championship clubs – with the RFU over the funding of the second tier in the future.
It was the dispute and the lack of certainty around the future direction of funding that led ex-director of rugby Steve Boden to make his shock decision to quit last week.
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