Wales coach to return Rugby League
NEWS: Wales Rugby Union defence coach Shaun Edwards is to take over as head coach of the league club where he is still regarded as a legend, Super League giants Wigan Warriors after next year’s World Cup.
The 51-year-old signed a three-year contract and will replace interim coach and another former Wigan player Adrian Lam from the 2020 season. Lam is stepping in for a season to replace present head coach Shaun Wane who is taking up a coaching role with Scotland’s Rugby Union team.
Edwards, an outstanding Great Britain scrumhalf/stand-off who won three World Club Challenges, eight national titles and nine Challenge Cups in his time at Wigan, has been out of Rugby League since he retired as a player in 2000.
In Union, Edwards guided Wasps to European Cup glory in 2007 after filling in the vacuum as head coach left by Warren Gatland when he returned to New Zealand in 2005. He left the club to reunite with Gatland in the Welsh coaching team in 2011.
“He (Edwards) is a legendary figure in both codes of rugby as a supremely gifted player and as a highly successful coach,” said Wigan chairman Ian Lenagan.
“He is an inspirational figure, a born leader and a winner at everything he has turned his attention to.”
Wane, 53, will leave behind an impressive legacy, including two Super League titles, a Challenge Cup and three World Club Challenge wins.
Lam, 47, most recently worked with Sydney Roosters at age-group level, and as head coach at Cronulla in Australia’s National Rugby League.
Agence France-Presse
