Duncan is right fit, regardless of his nationality – Solomons
WORCESTER Warriors director of rugby Alan Solomons denies the appointment of Cheetahs head coach Rory Duncan is a kick in the teeth for English coaching talent.
With half of next season’s Premiership head honchos set to be from the Southern Hemisphere, South African Solomons told The Rugby Paper: “I just look at the pure merit of situations and who would be right, not where they come from, and Rory is the right fit.
“He captained my side at the Kings and is a fantastic bloke and a good leader. Southern Hemisphere coaches have historically gone abroad and I think as game becomes more global you’ll see more English guys going overseas.”
Solomons refused to be drawn by speculation over the future of attack coach Sam Vesty, insisting his focus is solely on Premiership survival.
Former Leicester and England utility back Vesty is being linked with a move to Northampton after playing a part in the development of Warriors’ exciting young back-line, including new Wales cap Josh Adams and England hopeful Ryan Mills.
However, Solomons added: “The only thing with staff is there’s been a head coach (Rory Duncan) appointed for next season and Carl Hogg will leave.
“There’s got to be no other focus now and we can’t take our eye off the ball in the Premiership.”
Solomons insists there will no vast influx of overseas players at Sixways and says Worcester’s thriving academy will not be sacrificed on the altar of expediency.
He explained: “One always has to be aware of the England qualified-player scheme and you will see that, by and large, players we bring in will be EQP.
“We’ve announced Ashley Beck (Wales) and Cornell Du Preez (Scotland) and they are excellent signings, but we will balthe ance that and there is real quality in our academy.
“We have two centres in Will Butler and Ollie Lawrence who are really good, two excellent locks in Justin Clegg and Andrew Kitchener and great young loose forwards in Ted Hill and Tom Dodd.
“I’m enthused by what I’ve seen and there’s no question I’ll encourage these guys.
“I did it at the Kings, where we went from starting our academy to having five of them playing Super Rugby within two years, and I did the same during my three years at Edinburgh.
“All those young guys coming through with Scotland now – Jamie Ritchie, Marcus Bradbury, Hamish Watson, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Damien Hoyland, Rory Sutherland, Ben Toolis and Blair Kinghorn – were brought through during my time there.”
Meanwhile, Solomons is backing new South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus to turn Springbok fortunes around after a dismal run under Allister Coetzee.
“Rassie played in nearly all the 38 Tests I was involved in between 1997 and 2000 and was an outstanding player with a great rugby brain,” Solomons said.
“He is an excellent coach, very strong technically, and he’s done great jobs at the Cheetahs and with Munster, so he’ll be fantastic for South Africa.
“He’s got some big decisions to make over players based in Europe but if he can get what he thinks is his best team on the park, they’ll be much stronger.”