Liam Middleton

Last updated
Liam Middleton
Date of birth (1977-06-19) June 19, 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth Harare, Zimbabwe
Rugby union career
Coaching career
YearsTeam
Canada 7s
2004–2010 Zimbabwe 7s

Liam Middleton (born June 19, 1977) is a Professional Rugby Union coach in both the 15-a-side and 7 a-side versions of the game. He is an International coach with a Level 4 qualification and is a World Rugby coach educator.

Contents

Rugby Union coaching career

YearsClub/Team
Jul 11 – Mar 13Bristol Rugby
Jun 09 – Jun 11England Rugby Academy / Bristol Rugby
Jul 08 – Jun 09Rugby Football Union
Jan 02 – May 8Hartpury College Rugby Academy
Jan 00 – Dec 01Howick High School, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Coaching career

October 16, 2013, the Zimbabwe Rugby Union appointed Middleton as the new Director of Rugby and his immediate task is working with the Sables who are billed to play at the 2013 Namibian Tri-Nations tournament that also includes Kenya and Namibia.

Liam started his coaching career at Howick High School in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa in 2000.

In January 2002 he left South Africa and joined the coaching staff of the Hartpury College Rugby Academy in Gloucestershire, England as one of its founding members. Now considered the leading rugby academy in the world for producing professional and international players. As a high performance coach, he coached the Hartpury 1st XV with former Wales assistant coach, Allan Lewis. During his tenure the Academy 1st XV won the British University Championship for 3 consecutive seasons and the college's first University 7s title. During this time the Academy produced 9 fully capped international players, one British and Irish Lion and several International 7s players. Middleton also coached England Colleges and the British Colleges teams on various international tours.

In 2008, Liam joined England Rugby as Talent Identification Manager.

Following this he joined Bristol Rugby Club (BRFC) [1] in June 2009 as Academy Manager where his reputation for identifying and developing talented players was created. The Academy process established by Middleton produced 13 Bristol 1st XV status and notably England and British and Irish Lions prop Mako Vunipola and current England prop, Ellis Genge. During the 2010 season Middleton assisted Paul Hull in the coaching of the Bristol 1st XV where they were winners of the British and Irish Cup. In July 2011 Liam was promoted to head coach of Bristol Rugby Club. Known as an innovative and tactically astute coach, he guided the Bristol first team from 8th place in the RFU Championship to 1st place, topping the league by 7 clear points. During his time in charge he led the Club on their longest run of home victories in the club's history, and boasted an unbeaten record against perennial Championship performers Bedford Blues.

In September 2012 he was named as an assistant coach for the Championship XV to play against the New Zealand Maoris, [2] but withdrew due to family commitments.

Middleton left Bristol Rugby Club in March 2013 [3] replaced by former Scotland head coach, Andy Robinson.

Liam Middleton was Director of Rugby at Cheltenham RFC from 2005 to 2009, [4] guiding them to promotion to the National Leagues in 2009, where the team scored a record number of league tries in the Club's history.

Sevens Coaching

Liam Middleton was head coach of the Zimbabwe 7s team from June 2004 to December 2010.[5][ unreliable source? ] Known as the ‘Cheetahs’, he developed the National 7s team into a recognised competitive team on the World Sevens Series. Middleton led the Cheetahs to the 2009 Rugby World Cup 7s in Dubai where they won an impressive 4 out of their 6 games, culminating in a Bowl Final victory against Ireland. In 2006, he was named head coach of the Great Britain Students 7s team for the World University Games 2006 in Rome where the team were Silver medalists. Canada Rugby appointed Middleton as head coach of the Canada 7s team in 2014. Most notably he became the first coach of a Canadian rugby team to beat New Zealand when the team overcame the All Black Sevens team at the Tokyo 7s in April 2015, repeating the feat again in Cape Town in Dec 2015. Middleton led the Canada 7s team to a Gold Medal at the Pan Am games in July 2015. In 2016, he led the home nation in its inaugural home tournament in the Vancouver leg of the World Sevens Series. Despite a narrow loss in their opening match the team went on to win all five of their remaining games culminating in a spectacular Bowl Final win over France.

Commentator and Speaker

Middleton spent time as a Analyst Commentator for Kwese ESPN covering 15 and 7 a-side events around Africa. He is a sought after speaker at education, sport and business events.

High Performance Consultant

Well regarded as a high performance leader, Middleton consults for several sports organisations and continues to coach rugby union. He has consulted for a professional club in Russia.

He nows plies his leadership skills in the education sector.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Bears</span> English rugby union football club

Bristol Bears are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada national rugby union team</span> Mens rugby union team

The Canada men's national rugby union team represents the Canada in men's international rugby union competitions. They are overseen by Rugby Canada the governing body of rugby union in Canada.

The Rosslyn Park National Schools Sevens is an English rugby union sevens tournament, organised by Rosslyn Park F.C., that has evolved into the world's largest rugby tournament with some 9,500 boys and girls aged 13 – 19 competing annually from over 800 schools. There are now well over 1,100 matches on the 5 groups of pitches every year. A separate tournament for the U11 age group takes place the week before.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia A national rugby union team</span> Rugby team

Australia A/Australia XV is the second national Rugby union team of Australia, behind the Wallabies. Matches played under the 'Australia A' title are traditionally non-test match fixtures and often offer a stepping-stone to Wallaby national selection. Aspiring Wallaby players were given a chance to impress selectors during these games. In the past, the team would also play touring sides, such as the British & Irish Lions, or play mid-week games when the Wallabies are on tour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotland A national rugby union team</span> Rugby team

The Scotland A team are the second national rugby union team behind the Scottish national side. The first Scotland 'A' fixture took place in 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamie Joseph</span> New Zealand-born Japanese rugby union player and coach

James Whitinui Joseph is a New Zealand-born Japanese former rugby union player and current rugby union coach. A flanker, Joseph represented Otago at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1992 to 1995, before representing Japan in 1999. Joseph, now head coach of the Japanese national side, has coached since his retirement, coming through the ranks in New Zealand before his first national stint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mathew Turner</span> South African rugby union player

Mathew Drew Turner is a South African born rugby union player who currently plays for the Seattle Seawolves in Major League Rugby (MLR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan Norton</span> English rugby union player (born 1988)

Daniel John Norton is a former rugby union player. He is the leading all-time try scorer in the World Rugby Sevens Series with over 350 tries, beating the previous record of 244 held by Kenya's Collins Injera at the 2017 Hong Kong Sevens tournament.

Daniel Hondo is a former Zimbabwean rugby international and a cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler who played for Mashonaland A. He was born in Harare. He played rugby union as a centre for Zimbabwe and was captain.

Scott Waldrom is a New Zealand former rugby union player. When Waldroms playing career finished in 2012 due to injury he was playing for the Waikato Chiefs in Super Rugby and Taranaki in the ITM Cup. He played in the openside flanker position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worthing RFC</span> English rugby union club, based in West Sussex

Worthing Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union team playing in the fourth tier of the English rugby union league system; National League 2 East. The first XV, nicknamed The Raiders, were runners-up to Henley Hawks in the National League 2 South 2012–13 season and qualified for a play-off against the runners-up of National League 2 North, Stourbridge winning 28 – 26. In doing so, the club became the first club from Sussex to play in the third tier of English rugby. The club also has a number of other teams, and while their 2nd XV is non-league, their 3rd XV currently plays in the Sussex Spitfire 1 league. Worthing also have a successful Ladies 1st XV who are currently in 2nd place in the National Challenge South East South 2 league

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union</span> Rugby team

The Gloucestershire Rugby Football Union is the union responsible for rugby union in the county of Gloucestershire, England and is one of the constituent bodies of the national Rugby Football Union. Formed in 1878, it has won the county championship on numerous occasions.

Oxford Harlequins Rugby Football Club is a rugby union club based in Oxford, England. The men's 1st XV currently play in National League 2 East, a level 4 league, following their promotion from Regional 1 Midlands at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Damian McGrath played professional rugby league at Batley before embarking on a successful coaching career, which has encompassed both codes of rugby football at club and international level. He is currently the head coach of the Kenya national rugby sevens team.

Swansea University Rugby Football Club is a Welsh amateur rugby union club based at Swansea University, Swansea. It competes in the BUCS Rugby Union Super Rugby League as of the 2021/2022 season. The club has experienced major success, winning the UAU Championship six times and the BUSA Championship twice. Swansea are also the current champions of Wales having won the 2022 Welsh Varsity in the Freshers, Women's and Men's varsity match.

Ian Clark is an English semi-professional rugby union and rugby league player who plays as a wing. A prolific try scorer during his time at Hartpury College, he has also had a number of cup appearances for Gloucester. After a spell playing rugby league Ian is currently back playing union for Clifton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nathan Hughes</span> Rugby player

Nathan William Jeremy Hughes is a professional rugby union player who is currently playing in the Japan Rugby League One side Ricoh Black Rams having left Bristol Bears in 2022. Born in Fiji he qualified to play for England on residency and won 22 caps between 2016 and 2019, however due to the amendment in international selection by the WRU, Hughes hopes to participate in the France 2023 RWC for his home nation. He plays as a flanker, a number 8 or at lock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dallen Stanford</span> South African rugby union player

Dallen Stanford is a South African-born, former American rugby union sevens player and current international rugby commentator based in the United States.

Mackenzie Carson is a Canadian-born rugby union player, who currently plays for Gloucester-Hartpury in Premiership Women's Rugby, the top-flight women's rugby union competition in England, and for the England national team at international level, having previously represented Canada three times.

Sydney Jasmine Gregson is an English rugby union player, who currently plays as a centre and wing for Saracens Women in Premiership Women's Rugby, the top-tier competition of women's rugby union in England, and the England national team.

References

  1. ↑ "Championship Coach Close-up: Liam Middleton". Archived from the original on 2013-08-14. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  2. ↑ "Maori All Blacks visit UK for three-game tour". Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2013-08-20.
  3. ↑ "Bristol Rugby - Liam Middleton Leaves Bristol Rugby". Archived from the original on 2013-05-23. Retrieved 2013-08-14.
  4. ↑ http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/Middleton-stays-charge-Cheltenham-aim-higher/story-11913826-detail/story.html#axzz2X2q7gyIH [ dead link ]
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.