Flanagan back to bolster Blues pack after stint with Saracens
FORWARDS coach Alex Rae is banking on the return of influential lock Mark Flanagan to help his Bedford pack give Championship title favourites London Irish and Ealing a serious run for their money.
Irishman Flanagan, 28, is back at Goldington Road after a two-year stint at Saracens in which he claimed Champions Cup and Premiership winners’ medals but failed to dislodge more established stars such as Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Nick Isiekwe and Will Skelton.
Rae, who took over the forwards coach role from Martin Hynes in May, told
The Rugby Paper: “Mark is a really good lineout operator and you can see the class he’s going to offer.
“It’s brilliant as a forwards coach to have him because he’s another set of eyes on the pitch and will bring his own ideas as well, which I’m always open to.
“He comes back a better player from his experience at Saracens and whenever I’ve been down there watching training, you come back with dozens of good ideas because they’ve been champions of Europe and the Premiership and are doing something right.
“For Mark to have spent two years around guys like Kruis and Itoje is fantastic for him and I’ll be tapping into him as much as I can.”
Rae, 32, is still in the foothills of his coaching career after gaining previous experience at Jersey. At this stage he intends remaining active as a player.
The former Northampton and Wasps lock explained: “Rugby’s all I’ve done since I left school and coaching opportunities are hard to come by, so I was delighted when (rugby director) Mike Rayer asked me to run the lineout last year and now I’ll look after all the forwards.
“I get a good buzz from coaching and it’s a good show of trust from Mikey. He’s an easy bloke to work with and I’ve learnt a lot from him, especially through his attacking style of play and how he sticks to his philosophies no matter what the results are.
“It’s an enjoyable style to play and coach, so my job with the forwards is to deliver a set-piece that gives the backs enough ball to do some damage. Last year we built a pack that could deliver some penalties too, so we’re getting a good balance in our game.”
While Irish and Ealing are expected to dominate, Rae cautions: “Ealing have so many new players a lot will depend on how they gel, while Irish have lost a few, so if you lose a few early games you can get into a bad cycle.
“We played some good stuff last season to finish third and aim to improve, while Cornish Pirates are on a good cycle and Jersey will be strong again. On paper Irish and Ealing will dominate but I expect other teams to push them close.”