Former Bath and Gloucester star Matt Banahan gets international …
Former England international back Matt Banahan has taken his first steps into professional coaching, taking charge of Scotland Women’s attack ahead of their upcoming campaign.
The former Bath and Gloucester back retired from professional rugby as a player in 2021. During his 12 years with Bath the powerful winger/centre made 264 appearances and scored 100 tries before joining Gloucester in 2018 where he made a further 45 appearances with 12 tries. Banahan, who hails from St Helier in Jersey, also made 16 appearances for England between 2009 and 2011, scoring four tries as well as scoring six tries in four appearances for England Saxons and eight tries over six events for England 7s.
He moves into coaching with a glittering and broad CV as a player, sitting sixth on the list of all-time top Premiership try-scorers with 71 to his name and remains the Blue, Black and Whites’ highest-ever Premiership try scorer, with 62. Moreover, Banahan has proven top-end experience of playing multiple positions across the backline.
Banahan said: “I’m really excited to join the Scotland Women programme. I’ve been seeing the growth of the women’s game and from my experience of playing for so many years, along with my coaching experience, I thought there was no better place to pursue my coaching career.
“I’ve coached in academy programmes and with other teams and I thought this was the perfect progression to pass on knowledge from where my passion stems from.”
Scotland Women head coach, Bryan Easson added: “We got to a really good place last season with Chris [Laidlaw] and I’m really pleased with the way that he developed our attacking game. Chris has since made the decision to give his full focus to his role as Performance Development Coach in the pathway system and we wish him all the best.
“We wanted to bring in someone in with that same kind of ilk, who has recently been involved in the game from a playing perspective and has the energy and rugby knowledge to take the players to the next level.
Scottish Rugby’s Technical and Operations Director, Stevie Gemmell, said: “It’s fantastic to appoint a recent former international player who has cut his teeth in coaching through the academy system.
“This appointment demonstrates the attraction in being involved in our women’s programme and we look forward to seeing how Matt can progress our attacking game on the back of some promising performances during the 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations championship.”
Scotland Women are preparing for the new global competition, WXV, which gets underway in October.