Name Damian McGrath | ||
Damian mcgrath practical
Damian McGrath (Born Bradford, West Yorkshire, England 1958) played professional Rugby League at Batley before embarking on a successful coaching career, which has encompassed both codes of rugby at club and international level. His first post as reserve team coach at Batley RLFC brought the club its first trophy for 65 years and led to his appointment to the staff at Leeds Rhinos, one of Rugby League’s ‘blue chip’ clubs.
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Championships at Academy and Reserve team level for Leeds were followed by elevation to the senior coaching team as Super League arrived in Rugby League. Two Challenge Cup Finals (including victory in the last final played at the old Wembley Stadium) and an appearance in the inaugural Super League Grand Final in 1998 reflected the clubs growing success.
On the International stage he coached The Great Britain Academy team and Great Britain U21’s which culminated in his appointment as assistant coach to the senior England team in 1999 and for the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. In 2001 he was recruited by the RFU to the joint post of Defence and Skills coach for the England ‘A’ team and the England 7’s team.
Over a period of five years the England 7’s team won 4 Hong Kong titles, appeared at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and the 2005, 7’s World Cup.
Damian has also coached the England U19 s to a World Cup 3rd-place finish in 2006, coached the Junior England 7’s to a silver medal at the Junior Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2004 and toured on two Churchill Cups with the England ‘A’ team. He was defence coach for England against The Barbarians in 2005.
On the club front he had two seasons as first team Skills Coach at Leicester Tigers, from 2002 to 2004. In 2006 he began a successful stint as skills and defence coach for the Spanish RFU, which coincided with their rise from 38th to 20th in the world rankings.
Damian is an Education graduate who has lectured extensively at home and abroad on skill development and coach education. He is the author of three books on rugby skills coaching and is currently the Head of Performance at Huddersfield Giants RLFC. In 2015, McGrath was appointed as the Head Coach of Samoa's national sevens team. In October 2016, McGrath was appointed as the Head Coach of Canada's national men's sevens team.