'I'm honoured': Former Russia coach Lyn Jones starts a new job

Ex-Russia boss Lyn Jones has landed himself a new coaching job with the Netherlands ten months after he stepped away from the country he guided to the 2019 Rugby World Cup finals in Japan. Having since recovered from prostate cancer, he has now been unveiled as the new Netherlands coach, a role he began on September 1.

A Rugby Netherlands Rugby statement read: “The experienced top coach Lyn Jones will be the new national coach for Dutch rugby from September 1. Jones comes from Wales and partly thanks to financial support from World Rugby, he will be working with the top talents of Dutch rugby in the coming years.

“The positive development and results of Rugby Netherlands have not gone unnoticed by the board of World Rugby. That is why the Netherlands has now been invited to participate in the high-performance programme where the 24 rugby nations are financially and organisationally supported.

“The status as a member of the high-performance nations has now been awarded to the Netherlands for the next six years. This means that World Rugby also sees opportunities in the long term for the Netherlands XV to participate in the World Cup tournament.

“Entry into the high-performance nations includes not only financial support but also the input of technical and analytical assistance from the highest professional level, plus participation in international practice matches in the summer and in home Test matches against southern hemisphere countries that are on tour in Europe in November.”

Jones said: “I’m honoured and happy to be able to commit myself to help achieve the goals of Rugby Netherlands. One of those goals is to become a leading rugby country at the level of countries such as Spain and Romania. Another is to participate in the Rugby World Cup in due course.

“The road to high performance is very long and also expensive. Good coordination and cooperation between the clubs, the rugby academies and the rugby union is crucial for the future successes that we hope to achieve. My more than 27 years of experience as a coach can help to deal with the many challenges that all rugby coaches experience.

“The high-performance plan is demanding and I want to fully support everyone to make their own contributions. At the moment, the Delta Super Cup team has an excellent young age profile. In my view, Delta is essential to drive talented players, supervisors and coaches to an ever higher level.”