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Former England centre Anthony Allen lands Championship head coach role

By Josh Raisey

11 hours ago

Anthony Allen of Leicester Tigers looks on following the Anglo-Welsh Cup game between Leicester Tigers and Newport Gwent Dragons at Welford Road on November 12, 2016 in Leicester, England. (Photo by Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)

Cambridge head coach Richie Williams will step down from his role at the end of the month with former England centre Anthony Allen taking over on an interim basis.

The two-cap international has been part of the Cambridge coaching team since 2022, but will now take the reins of the side, who languish second-from-bottom in the Championship with two wins from eight matches.

Allen will be supported by forwards coach Neil Harris in the role, who were part of the trio alongside Williams that guided Cambridge back to the Championship in 2023.

Williams will leave his role after Cambridge’s fixture with Bedford Blues on December 28, but host Ampthill on Saturday before then.

Cambridge chairman Tim Hague said: “On behalf of the club, I would like to thank Richie for his hard work, dedication and commitment to Cambridge Rugby during his time here, which has included some of the best moments of success within the club’s history. We wish him the very best of luck in the future.”

The former Gloucester and Leicester Tigers centre has plenty of experience of coaching in the Championship having previously worked as defence coach for Coventry.

Prior to joining Coventry, Allen had plenty of success coaching Leicester Tigers’ academy and the England U20 set-up. The move into coaching came after being forced to retire at the age of 28 with a knee injury.

Allen’s appointment will signal a growing number of former England players coaching Championship sides, with Nick Easter in charge of Chinnor and Joe Gray coaching London Scottish.

Rugby’s best of the best, ranked by experts. Check out our list of the Top 100 Men's Rugby Players and let us know what you think!

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JW 14 minutes ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

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JPM 56 minutes ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Thanks for the information as I am relatively new on this site.

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Ed the Duck 1 hour ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Looking a lot like that ship has sailed, with nz & aus left hitched to work with Japan and the PI’s!

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JM 2 hours ago

Does South Africa have a future in European competition?

Nick is it not political to suggest SA go to 6 Nations?

This baffles me a bit, as it only isolates NZ and AUS further. Would be a real shame and pretty dire for the future of southern rugby.

I get worried that NZR are increasingly becoming bed-wetters. E.g without strong leadership all these governance issues are emerging, they are panicking about the league juggernaut, and worse they have signed onto these SA tours without thinking long term for the region or even talking in depth to Arg and Aus. In doing so they have cheapened the southern RC and increased likelihood of SA going to 6N in future.

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So I'm going to propose a format, and let me first say 2 things. One, I know why it would never work, why many if not most of the parties involved would not want it. Two, I'm not even sure I'd want it. I'm just going to put it out there, and you all can tell me why it's awful and I'm an idiot.

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This means, every club between the league and cup competitions, would play a minimum of 18 matches (division 3) per season, and a maximum of 28 (if you won the double).

I understand frankly, why many parties involved would be opposed to this, most strongly of course, the French, who really don't need to tinker with their domestic set up at all. Again, I'm not even sure I'd like it in reality. Just a thought I had, wanted to put out there.

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