Barrow thriving on extra duties at Sedgley

SCOTT Barrow believes balancing his coaching duties at Wasps and Sedgley Park is accelerating his development while helping Park’s unbeaten form.

Barrow, who had spells at Leeds Carnegie and Glasgow Warriors, has been crossing between the two roles since joiningWasps as backs transition coach in the summer.

He’s been head coach for Sedgley Park since pre-season 2019 and has led an upsurge in the National 2 North club’s form.

The 41-year-old said: “Doing both jobs helps my personal development as a coach. At Wasps I’m involved in a fantastic professional and tough set-up but I’m not making those decisions around selection and having those conversations you have as a head coach.

“It is good to have both and I’m enjoying balancing the roles which I feel are helping me develop and grow massively as a coach. I will keep doing both as long as I’m able to.

“The national leagues are fantastic as you get that mix of young players on loan from the Premiership learning their trade and more experienced guys who still have loads of quality but play around work commitments.

“I don’t know where I’ll be in five years’ time as it can be fickle but I just love being involved and to help the clubs get better.”

Sedgley Park sit top of National Two North, unbeaten from nine, and have been the form team since opening with nine tries against Harrogate.

Next weekend all eyes will be on their clash with Stourbridge. Barrow added: “When I joined Sedgley they already had a great attack with quality players so I focused heavily on our defence and looked to instill principals about forming a strong line, being hard to break down and disciplined off the ball.

“It’s made a massive difference and the effort the boys have shown has been on another level. It’s too early to think we’ll go unbeaten but Stourbridge and Hull in the next two weeks could make or break our season.”