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Leicester Tigers scrum coach follows Dan McKellar out the door
By Josh Raisey
Leicester Tigers scrum coach Dan Palmer has left the club just days after head coach Dan McKellar was sacked.
Palmer joined McKellar's coaching staff after the World Cup last year following his commitments with the Wallabies, having previously worked with McKellar at the Brumbies.
The former Wallaby handed in his resignation shortly after McKellar left Welford Road, saying he was unable to commit to the role fully.
Academy forwards coach Neil Fowkes will take on the role of scrum coach in the interim, with preseason starting on July 1.
The Tigers have, meanwhile, said that the hunt for a new head coach is ongoing.
A Leicester statement reads: "Leicester Tigers can confirm the club has accepted the resignation of Dan Palmer from his role as scrum coach.
"He joined Tigers in late October of last year, following his commitments with Australia at the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
"Palmer submitted his resignation after confirmation of the mutual agreement with Dan McKellar to end his tenure as head coach at the club, citing that he was unable to commit to the role fully moving forward into the new season.
"In the interim, with the pre-season programme commencing on Monday (July 1), Neil Fowkes – the club’s senior ccademy forwards coach – will take on the responsibilities of scrum coach for the senior men’s squad.
"Fowkes joined Tigers ahead of last season after stints with Championship clubs Ealing Trailfinders (forwards coach) and Nottingham Rugby (head coach and forwards coach), as well as two years as scrum coach with former Gallagher Premiership club Wasps from 2020-22.
"All other assistant coaches and performance staff, as announced earlier this month, have commenced work on the 24/25 season.
"The process for appointing a new head coach is ongoing, with an announcement to be made ahead of the playing group’s return on July 1."
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Mallia deserves 8 at least. Brains and skills for the comeback. Him, Garcia and Albornoz the core of The Pumas attack. Hope to see them in the 15s against France
Go to commentsYeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
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