New defensive guru for Gloucester
Nigel Davies has put one more piece of his Gloucester coaching jigsaw in place with the news that Paul Moriarty has been named Defence Coach.
Last week saw Mike Tindall sign on as a player/backline coach and Davies confirmed at Kingsholm on Monday evening that Moriarty was the latest to join Gloucester's new-look backroom staff.
Moriarty and Davies have worked together in the past, both being on the Scarlets coaching staff that led the Welsh region to Celtic League success in 2003/4.
He is a former dual code rugby international who started his union club career with Swansea before earning international honours with Wales.
He subsequently moved to rugby league where he played for Halifax and Widnes, with whom he won the 1989 World Club Challenge against the Canberra Raiders.
Moriarty was also included in the Wales rugby league squads for the 1995 and 2000 World Cups.
He rejoined Swansea as a player before becoming a player/coach following the departure of John Plumtree.
As well as a six-year spell on the coaching staff at the Scarlets, he was most recently an Assistant Coach at the Newcastle Falcons working alongside Alan Tait.
Davies explained that he is delighted to be working alongside his former colleague again and that Moriarty brings a lot to the table in terms of coaching expertise.
He explained: "Paul is somebody I've worked with at the Scarlets, we worked together when we won the Celtic League a few years ago. He brings a lot of passion to whatever he does. He was always a hard man as a rugby player, a man who deserves respect.
"In this role, we need someone who can make sure that the players are on top of things and, in particular, bring a physical edge to that side of the game. If you look at Gloucester last season, one of the reasons we didn't achieve what we wanted to was our defensive performance.
"His time at the Falcons means that he's got experience of the Premiership and a good knowledge of the teams that we'll come up against which will be beneficial.
"He'll focus on the core skills of defence – tackling technique, the contact area, line-speed and all the organisation around that," said the Gloucester boss.
Finally, Davies confirmed that the recruitment process isn't over yet with another specialist sought.
"We're hoping also to bring in someone shortly to focus on the scrummage. John Brain did a fantastic job there and we want to continue the good work that he's done.
"We're looking at some people who've worked with John and have picked up his philosophies and ideas and hope to make that announcement in the next week or two," he said.
