Alan Solomons

Last updated

Alan Solomons
Date of birth (1950-07-31) 31 July 1950 (age 73)
Place of birth Uitenhage
School Grey High School
University University of Cape Town
Rugby union career
Coaching career
YearsTeam
1997 Western Province (assistant)
1997–2000 South Africa (assistant)
1998 Stormers (assistant)
1998–1999 Western Province
1999–2001 Stormers
2001–2004 Ulster
2003 Barbarians
2004 Northampton Saints
2009–2012 Southern Kings
2009–2012 Eastern Province Kings
2010–2011 Barbarians (assistant)
2013 Southern Kings (Director of Rugby)
2013 Eastern Province Kings (Director of Rugby)
2013–2016 Edinburgh
2017–2022 Worcester Warriors (Director of Rugby)

Alan Solomons (born 31 July 1950 in Uitenhage, South Africa) is a former rugby union coach.

Contents

Law career

After studying law at the University of Cape Town, Solomons practised law for 20 years where he was a partner at Sonnenberg, Hoffmann & Galombik.

Professional rugby coaching career

In 1997 Solomons left law to pursue a professional rugby coaching career as the assistant coach for Western Province (winners of Currie Cup), the Stormers & the Springboks.

In 1998 he was appointed head coach of Western Province (Currie Cup finalists) and in 1999 head coach of the Stormers (home semi finalists in 1999), a position he held until 2001. He remained as assistant Springbok coach working with the head coach, Nick Mallett until 2001 (Tri Nations winners 1998, world record 17 unbeaten Test run & 3rd placed at RWC 1999).

In 2001, he joined Irish rugby team Ulster, where he coached them for 3 seasons during which time they won the Celtic Cup (2004), were runners up in the Celtic League( 2004), lost only 1 home match in 3 seasons & moved from 37th ranking in Europe to 10th. In 2004 he was voted Northern Ireland Sports Manager of the year and Rugby Personality of the year.

After an unproductive short spell as head coach of Northampton, he joined the IRB as the High Performance consultant, a position he held until 2010. During this time, he was seconded for a year (2006) to USA Rugby as Director of Rugby.

He was also the Barbarians coach in 2003 when they defeated England, Scotland & Wales and assistant coach to Nick Mallett when the Springboks & All Blacks were defeated in 2010 & 2011.

In June 2009 he coached the Southern Kings in their debut match against The British & Irish Lions and in 2010 he was appointed Director of Rugby & head coach of both the Southern & EP Kings. He remained with the Kings until 2013 and led them to 2 Currie Cup Div1 titles (unbeaten in 2012) and as the SA Kings won the IRB Nations Cup in 2011. As Director of Rugby (Matt Sexton worked under him as head coach) he led the Kings in their debut Super Rugby season in 2013 (best ever debut season)

In 2013, he was appointed as the head coach of Edinburgh Rugby. [1] In the 2014–2015 season, Edinburgh won the 1872 Cup derby against Glasgow Warriors for the 1st time in 6 years and became the first Scottish team to play in a European Rugby final.

On 28 September 2016, Solomons stepped down from is position at Edinburgh four weeks into the 2016–2017 season. [2]

In February 2017, Solomons became a Coaching Consultant for Bristol Rugby.[ citation needed ]

In October 2017 Solomons became assistant coach at Worcester Warriors, and in December 2017 signed a 2.5-year contract as director of rugby. [3] Following the 2021–22 season he will retire and is to be replaced by Steve Diamond. [4]

Coaching philosophy

Solomons approach has been described as "His philosophy on rugby is to get the simple things done well, work hard and everything else falls into place." [5] Solomons normally focuses on the group rather than picking out individuals. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

Nicholas Vivian Haward Mallett is a former South African rugby union player who played for the Springboks, South Africa's national rugby union team, in 1984. He also coached the Springboks between 1997 and 2000 and was the head coach of Italy's rugby union team between 2007 and 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharks (rugby union)</span> Rugby team

The Sharks is a South African professional rugby union team based in Durban in KwaZulu-Natal. They compete internationally in the United Rugby Championship and EPCR Challenge Cup, having competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. They are centred on the Sharks union, also based in Durban and drawing players from all of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The team plays its home matches at the Hollywoodbets Kings Park Stadium in Durban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edinburgh Rugby</span> Scottish rugby union club, based in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Rugby is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh plays the majority of its home games at Edinburgh Rugby Stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulster Rugby</span> Rugby union team in island of Ireland

Ulster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the Irish regional pool of the United Rugby Championship and in the European Rugby Champions Cup, each of which they have won once. Ulster were the first Irish team and the first team outside England and France to win the European Cup in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jake White</span> Rugby player

Jake White is a professional rugby union coach and former coach of the South African national team – the Springboks – whom he coached to victory in 2007 Rugby World Cup and the 2004 Tri Nations. White also coached the Under-21 Springbok side to victory in the Under-21 World Cup in 2002. He was coach of the Brumbies in the Super Rugby from 2012, but resigned with two years remaining on his contract in 2013 to return to South Africa. On returning to South Africa, he coached the Sharks for a single season, explaining he wanted to seek international opportunities. This arose in a technical role with the Tongan national team. After assisting Tonga in their 3 Test European Tour in 2014, White was announced as Montpellier's new boss, overseeing all coaching aspects for the club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Blair</span> British Lions & Scotland international rugby union player

Michael Robert Leighton Blair is a Scottish rugby union coach who was formerly a professional player. He will be the assistant coach of the Kobe Steelers for the 2023-24 season. He was previously the head coach of Edinburgh, and also was an assistant coach with Glasgow Warriors and then an assistant coach of the Scottish national team.

Philip Thomas Davies is a Welsh former rugby union footballer of the 1980s and 1990s. He is now an international coach, currently serving as director of rugby at Leeds Tykes, whilst running his own sports consultancy company.

Gary Hamilton Teichmann is a retired South African professional rugby union player. He played number eight and captained the South African national team, the Springboks, between 1995 and 1999.

George Moir Christie, better known as Kitch Christie, was a South African rugby union coach best known for coaching the country's national team, the Springboks, to victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He remained unbeaten during his tenure as Springbok rugby coach between 1994 and 1996, including leading the team to a then record 14 consecutive victories. In 2011, he was inducted posthumously into the IRB Hall of Fame, later subsumed into the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

Luke Asher Watson is a South African former rugby union footballer who can play at flank or eighthman. He has represented and captained the South African Schools rugby team (2001), South Africa's under-19 (2002) and under-21 (2004) teams, as well as the Springbok Sevens team (2001). Watson has also captained both the Western Province and the Super Rugby Stormers. He most recently played for the Eastern Province Kings.

Heyneke Meyer is a professional rugby union coach, best known for coaching the Springboks from 2012 until 2015. Prior to coaching the Springboks, he spent many years at the domestic level in South Africa before coaching Leicester Tigers in England. Following his stint with the Boks, he also coached Stade Français. On 8 July 2021 he was announced as the new Director of Rugby for the Houston Sabercats of MLR.

Jongikhaya Lutric Nokwe is a South African former rugby union player who played as a winger.

Cornell du Preez is a South African-born rugby union player. His regular playing positions are Flanker, No 8 and currently loose forward, he plays for Toulon in the Top 14 and represents Scotland internationally.

Matt Sexton is a former New Zealand rugby union player and head coach of the Southern Kings Super Rugby franchise, as well as the Eastern Province Kings Currie Cup team. He is currently a talent identification coach for the New Zealand Rugby Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Gold</span> Rugby player

Gary Gold is a South African rugby union coach who has coached at various levels of the game in England, Japan and South Africa. He was until December 2022 the head coach of the United States.

The 2013–14 season was Edinburgh Rugby's thirteenth season competing in the Pro12.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allister Coetzee</span> Rugby player

Allister Coetzee is a South African rugby union coach and former player, currently in charge of the Namibian national team on a part time basis, whilst also head coach of Rugby Rovigo in Italy. He served as the head coach of the South African national team from April 2016 to February 2018.

Pieter Willem Gabriel Rossouw is a South African former professional rugby player and current coach. Rossouw played wing for Western Province in the Currie Cup and the Stormers in the Super Rugby competition. He played a total of 43 times for the Springboks, making him one of the most capped Springbok wingers after South Africa's readmission to international rugby. He was also one of South Africa's most prolific try-scoring wingers, post-isolation, with only Breyton Paulse(26) and Bryan Habana(53) scoring more tries. He is 7th on the all-time try-scoring list for the Springboks. Rossouw is currently the backline coach of the Bulls in Super rugby and the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup. He was known as "Slaptjips", apparently because the sight of his running legs was like potato chips slapping together. Pieter is the older brother of Chris Rossouw, who played flyhalf for Western Province and the Free State Cheetahs.

Deon Horace Davids is a South African rugby union coach, most recently the head coach of the Southern Kings Pro14 franchise.

Robert Bruce Kempson is a South African former rugby union footballer, and the Director of High Performance and interim head coach of the Southern Kings in Pro14.

References

  1. ↑ "Solomons appointed head coach" (Press release). Edinburgh Rugby. 30 July 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2013.
  2. ↑ "Hodge appointed Acting Head Coach as Solomons steps down" (Press release). Edinburgh Rugby. 28 September 2016. Retrieved 29 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Worcester Warriors | Warriors appoint Solomons as Director of Rugby". warriors.co.uk.
  4. ↑ "Worcester Warriors | Steve Diamond to become Director of Rugby". warriors.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  5. ↑ "Solomons 'already in charge at Worcester'". BBC Sport.
  6. ↑ "Solomons confirms coaching set-up at Worcester Warriors for 2018/19 season | Premiership Rugby". Archived from the original on 1 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  7. ↑ "Boss believes off-field changes will boost Warriors". Worcester News. 23 August 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.