Rival clubs set to swoop for Titans coach Rouse
ROTHERHAM face a battle to keep hold of the services of interim head coach Nic Rouse with their relegation to National One set to be mathematically confirmed over the next fortnight.
A run of one win in 17 games cost Andy Key his job at Christmas time and the recent revival under Rouse will not be enough to save them from the drop.
Adopting a stripped back approach to training and a simplified game-plan since his promotion from forwards coach, Rouse has led the Titans to three wins in his six games while the recent defeats to Richmond and Bedford could easily have gone the other way.
The 37-year-old’s work has not gone unnoticed by rival Championship clubs and it is uncertain whether he’ll remain at Clifton Lane beyond the next few months.
“I’ve enjoyed my time at Rotherham and I’m talking to people here, but there’s nothing official yet. We’ll just have to wait and see,” he told The Rugby Paper.
Rouse had only limited coaching experience at London Irish’s academy when he first arrived up north as Key’s assistant. Four months in, the club turned to him to stop the rot.
“Would I have wanted that responsibility from the start? Probably not. On my first day on my own, I was like ‘what am I going to do?’ But it was a bit like when I made my Premiership debut, you either sink or swim. Luckily for me, it’s been a positive experience and I’ve learnt a lot.
“A lot of the boys were gutted when Andy left because they had a really good rapport with him. I’ve just tried to make this as good a place as it can be for them. The way they have responded has been great.
“I changed the week slightly to try and get the most out of training, with shorter more intense sessions, and cut out a lot of detail and focussed on how we were playing – the fundamentals like playing for field position and the gainline battle.
“We were chatting as a coaching team after the Bedford game, and we were saying how we wished we still had 12 games to go. I’d have been confident we’d have stayed up, 100 per cent, had that been the case. Unfortunately, time is against us.
“We’ve got two top-of-thetable teams to come here in Bristol and Leeds, but we’ll throw the kitchen sink at it. I know if we go out and do what we can do, we can potentially cause an upset,” he added.
Rouse is fulsome in his praise for backs coach Ed Robinson, son of former England and Scotland boss Andy, who turned to coaching after being forced to quit playing in his late teens.
“Ed had to retire when he was 19 due to a complex concussion. He still struggles with it now. When it is sunny he has to put sunglasses on and he doesn’t drink,” Rouse explained.
“He was doing a bit of coaching at Bristol and Clifton and just wanted an opportunity. Russell Earnshaw phoned me about him and it went from there. I can safely say it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made to bring him to Rotherham.
“For someone so young his understanding of the game is phenomenal. He gets the boys to engage differently and sparks their imagination with his creative thinking. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”