The Army Rugby Union has today announced the appointment of Maj Wayne ‘Burnie’ Burnard MBE into the newly-created role of Director of Rugby Development.
The Army Rugby Union has today announced the appointment of Maj Wayne ‘Burnie’ Burnard MBE into the newly-created role of Director of Rugby Development.
Maj Burnard is a highly experienced coach and been committed to Army Rugby for over 15 years, winning the Inter-Services Championship as Head Coach and Assistant Coach of the Senior Men’s XV. He has also been Head Coach of the UK Armed Forces Senior Men’s XV, Assistant Coach of the Combined Services Under-23, and coached the Army’s ‘A’ (Head Coach and Asst Coach), Under-23 (Asst Coach) and Under-20 (Asst Coach) teams.
As Head Coach of the REME Corps XV he was a two-time Merit Table winner.
Maj Burnard is an RFU Level 3 Coach and an RFU Coach Educator and has national league experience as a coach.
In his new role Maj Burnard will be focusing on developing both players and coaches throughout the Army Rugby Union’s structure and Chief Operations Officer Chris Fowke says he is ideally suited for the position.
“Burnie knows everything there is to know about Army Rugby and has an extensive range of experience and contacts in the civilian world which will add value to our organisation as we look to the future,” he says.
“The enforced time away from matches and full training has given us the time to evaluate all of our operations and put plans in place to attract new players into the ARU once the sport resumes, and then develop them so that we have a better pool of talent for Mal Roberts and Gemma Stonebridge-Smith to select the Senior Men’s and Women’s XVs.
“We’re all delighted that Burnie has agreed to be a part of this process and we’re looking forward to seeing how things develop and grow in the years to come.”
Words © Chris Wearmouth, Images © Alligin Photography and Scrumpix
