Midlands Premier latest

Sandbach

As has been well reported Rob Webber has retired as a player following a distinguished career which included 16 England caps. The next stage in his coaching career will be to take up the role of Forwards Coach with Championship side Jersey Reds. He leaves Sandbach after 3 years where his influence as a Coach has been significant and lasting. We wish him all the best in the next stage of his career.

Current attack coach Matt Bebbington steps up to Head Coach, a role he is well familiar with, having successfully held that role at National 2 Sedgley Tigers.

Andy Bird will take over as Director of Rugby, coordinating the advancement of rugby across the club, leading on the development of the club’s junior coaches, identifying and helping to develop talented players, to enable them to progress through the club and beyond.

To replace Web’s undoubted expertise in forward play, Sandbach are delighted to welcome player coach- Nathan Rushton to the coaching team, who like Matt and Andy is a specialised teacher of rugby, being Head of Rugby at Wilmslow High School. Nathan joins us from Sedgley Tigers and has represented Cheshire and Lancashire at senior and junior level. Last year he was Head Coach of Cheshire U20s, as well as working with the North of England U20s coaching team and being a Level 3 qualified rugby coach. Nathan has played at National 2 level with Caldy, before moving to Sedgley Tigers.

Nathan will also be well known to several of the Sandbach squad, having played with them last summer for Cheshire, where he started at loose-head prop in their Bill Beaumont County Championship Division One final appearance against Cornwall.

John Whittaker

We are delighted to confirm that prop John returns to us after playing in National 1 and 2 for the last two years with Caldy, where he was a key player in their unbeaten season in National 2 North. John came up through our mini junior section and has County, Divisional and England Counties Honours at 18’s and 20’s.

Kostja Vezanovs and Tom Poole

Both these lads played for us last year on loan and proved to be excellent additions to the squad. It’s great news that they have this year joined the club on a permanent basis. They will add to our already promising front row resources for the upcoming season.