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| Fletcher Hails Bates Saxons Appointment |
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| Steve Bates (left) and John Fletcher |
| 9 January 2008, 4:34 pm |
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| Falcons director of rugby, John Fletcher, spoke of his delight at the news that Newcastle colleague Steve Bates will coach the England Saxons team. |
With four Newcastle players named in the Saxons squad and a further four in the senior group for the upcoming Six Nations, Fletcher said: “We have always been big supporters of England, and of English rugby.
“It's great news for the club to have Steve appointed as Saxons coach, and so many of our players recognised by the England set-up.
“We believe in what we do and how we do things at Newcastle, and Steve is a big part of that.
“I'm on record a number of times saying how highly I rate Steve both as a coach and as a person, and I know he'll do a fantastic job with the Saxons squad.”
Insisting that there was no conflict at all between club and country, Fletcher added: “The RFU rang me to ask permission to speak to Steve, and of course I said yes to that because it's great for him personally and for us as a club to have him involved in that kind of set-up.
“The agreement is that he spends two weeks with the Saxons squad, and one of those two is when we have scheduled to give the Falcons squad an entire week off anyway, so it hasn't affected our planning at all in terms of our club commitments.
“It's just another acknowledgement of the right way we are going about things at the club in terms of developing both players and coaches, so long may it continue.” |
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