Leicester Tigers can confirm the make-up of the 2021/22 Academy Coaching Team and support staff ahead of the new Academy League campaign.
Academy Manager David Wilks will oversee a new-look coaching team for the 2021/22 season, including two new additions to the club.
Geraint Davies has been appointed the club’s Lead Academy Coach.
Davies joins Tigers after six years of Head of Sport at Leicester Grammar and having previously held coaching roles with Loughborough Students Women, Nuneaton RFC, Jamaica and Barbados national teams, and Cinderford Rugby.
Davies was also Lead Academy Coach with Gloucester Rugby from 2011-15.
The Welsh-born Davies was a member of Scarlets Academy during his playing days and represented Loughborough Students, Hartpury College and Cinderford Rugby.
In addition to Davies, the club welcomed George Glenn ahead of the new season in the role of Junior Academy Lead Coach & Coach Development Officer.
Glenn’s role will see him manage the club’s Junior Academy Centres (formerly known as DPP Centres) throughout the region, working with players who are hopeful of progressing through to the club’s Academy programme at Under-17 and Under-18 level.
Glenn joins Tigers after thirteen years at England Rugby (RFU), where he worked as a Rugby Development and Player/Pathway Officer in the Midlands region and a Coach Developer.
Greg Mannion will continue as part of the Academy Coaching Team after leading the club’s ACE programme in the opening months of the season.
Mannion, who joined Tigers in 2018 in the role of Junior Academy Manager, was promoted to the role of ACE Manager during the summer at the club’s Brooksby Melton base.
The ACE (Academy, Colleges and Education) programme offers young rugby players an opportunity to combine their studies and training while also gaining qualifications and work experience.
As part of the club’s Performance Partnership with Nottingham Rugby, the Championship club’s Head Coach Craig Hammond will also continue to support the Academy programme.
Assisting the coaching team for the upcoming season is Andrew McBay (Analyst), Adam Greenslade and Cyrus Azariah (S&C), Jack Wilkinson and Ethan Holmes (Medical), Ellie Hollis (Team Manager), Becky Judkins (Club Medical & Academy Administrator) and Sue Ashwin (Education Officer).
The programme, which now consists of Senior Academy, Academy and Junior Academy levels, will continue to be overseen by Wilks and the club’s General Manager Leigh Jones.
