Ambitious Ealing Trailfinders recruit former England rugby league coach

Ealing Trailfinders have added some rugby league coaching experience to their ranks as they seek to improve their chances of achieving promotion to the Gallagher Premiership.

Under the guidance of head coach Ben Ward Ealing are second in the Greene King Championship, eight points behind London Irish and face a tricky trip to third-placed Jersey Reds this weekend.

Now Ward will have rugby league stalwart James Lowes as part of his coaching set-up.

Lowes left his job as assistant coach with Super League side Leeds Rhinos to take up the role.

"Jimmy is a great addition to our coaching team. He has a lot of experience and we believe he will be a massive asset in both attack and defence," Ward said.

"Day to day he will improve our players and is the type of character that they will want to play for week in week out.”

49-year-old Lowes is a former Great Britain hooker and played Super League for both Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls.

He began his coaching career at Warrington Wolves and had stints with Leeds Rhinos and Bradford Bulls. He's twice worked with England, as assistant coach under Steve McNamara in 2015 and under Wayne Bennett during the recent Autumn series. He has experience of coaching in union too, with spells at Leeds Carnegie in 2013/14, rejoining Yorkshire Carnegie in 2016 as an assistant to Bryan Redpath, before taking on the head coach role in 2017 however he lasted just a season after a sixth-place finish in the Championship.

James Lowes worked with Bryan Redpath at Yorkshire Carnegie. (Photo by Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

“I am very excited about being given the opportunity to work with Ealing Trailfinders", Lowes said.

The staff and the playing squad shows great ambition. Ben is working hard to take the club to the next level and it’s great to be a part of that.”

In other news: Christian Wade surprised by NFL call-up