Brecon rugby star Andy Powell has taken up the coaching reins with his home club Brecon and, having won his first four league matches at the helm, is setting his sights on claiming the Division One East title.
Powell’s colourful playing career came to a difficult end, as a battle with depression led to him quitting rugby just over a year ago. At the time, he revealed how he had fallen out of love with the game and was no longer enjoying it.
“I know I said I wouldn’t go into coaching, but I am really enjoying it,” he said. “I’ve got a good group of boys here and it’s great to see them doing so well. We have got 46 senior players at training and about 90 per cent of them are Brecon people. There is a bit of a buzz around the town, with supporters’ buses going to away games. It’s exciting times for the club.
“The key thing for me is trying to help the boys become fitter, better players and it’s good to see the progress they are making. I had a great playing career, with a few ups and downs along the way. I had 14 different clubs and gained a lot of different experiences from working under 14 different coaches.
“I’m bringing that experience and the things I’ve learned into play, as well as my own personality and approach to the game. It’s early days, but things are going pretty well at the moment. There is a nice little buzz in Andy Powell world!”
The former Wales and Lions back rower announced he was hanging up his boots almost a year ago. In a career that brought him 23 caps, Andy ended up at Merthyr, after a wandering career which had taken in Newport, Béziers, Leicester, the Scarlets, Cardiff Blues, Wasps, Sale, the Dragons and Wigan RL.
Citing a re-occurring knee injury as the cause of his retirement, he recently admitted that he had been suffering from depression for some time.
“It was tough. I am not going to lie,” he said. “But there are a lot of people worse off than me. I look at that as a positive. I have got my buzz back now and I want to go further.”
On coaching, Andy said: "The best three coaches I worked under were Warren Gatland, Ian McIntosh, in my early days at Newport, and Shaun Wane at Wigan, When he came on board with Wales, Gats probably thought I was a bit of a character. Other coaches might not have taken a chance on me, but he could see I had the talent and he did the right thing. He told me he wasn’t going to stop me from being the person I was, but just to cut down on some of the things I did.
“It’s all about good man management and getting the best out of people. There are some people you need to put your arm round and some you need to shout at. That is what I learned from my career. Some coaches I could mention probably haven’t had very good management skills.”
On his future with Brecon RFC, Andy said: “It’s all about a mindset. You could see last season that the boys weren’t fit enough and they didn’t believe in what they could do. When I came in, I told them if they trained hard, with the standard we have got here, we can be in the top three. I was a good trainer and a fit guy and I know how important it is. Training has been hard here, but it’s paying off.”
“As a club, we like to play expansive rugby, but I have brought a little bit different,” he said. "The breakdown and contact area are critical, with body positions really important. We’ve got quite a powerful unit up front and we look to take it to teams. It’s about focusing on what you do well. Rugby is a simple game. Sometimes it can be overcomplicated. More than anything, it’s about the belief that I have given to the team, the belief that we can do something special here.
"We have played four, won four and we are going to treat every game as a cup final. We are going to try and win the league. I could be safe and say top three, but I want to win it and I think we can. There are going to be a lot of teams looking to take our scalp and knock us off our perch, so we won’t get too far ahead of ourselves. But we are ready for the challenge and looking forward to it.”
Read more at Wales Online at http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rebirth-andy-powell-most-unique-13684396
Pic courtesy of SWNS.com
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