Not only have the Scotland Women’s side named their training squad of 32 for October’s WXV competition this week, but they have also bolstered their backroom staff with the addition of former England Men’s international Matt Banahan. Banahan links up with the team as an assistant coach, focusing primarily on attack.
As the women’s game continues to go from strength to strength in Scotland, fans will be hoping Banahan’s appointment will only help drive the side to new heights. But who is he and what, specifically, can he bring to the setup?
Week 1 💪 new challenge new chapter. Massive thanks for to everyone who has sent support means so so much 👌 onwards and upwards. pic.twitter.com/Tt7em6k2uP
— matt banahan (@mattbanahan1) August 23, 2023
Recent professional experience: Matt Banahan
When looking to appoint a new attack coach, Scotland were keen to find someone who had recently been playing at the highest level of the game. Someone who could easily make that transition from player to coach and bring a real spark of energy into camp.
Matt Banahan started his professional playing career in 2006, at Bath, but played right through until as recently as the end of the 2020-21 English Premiership season. He spent 12 years at The Rec, playing 264 times and scoring 504 points before moving to local rivals Gloucester for the remainder of his days. With over 300 top-flight appearances, in a career spanning 15 years, Banahan is a member of the illustrious Gallagher Premiership Hall of Fame.
If that is not enough to convince someone that he has the right experience for the job, Matt Banahan also represented his country on 16 occasions, scoring four tries, as well as playing for England at National 7s. Despite spending all that time at the elite level of rugby, his passion for the sport is still there. Straight after retiring, just two years ago, Banahan became an academy manager at Bath Recreation and has since set out to pursue a career in coaching.
His recent connection to the game, along with a desire to succeed, will be an invaluable asset to head coach Bryan Easson’s side. Scotland Women’s offensive play was beginning to show signs of bursting into life under the previous attack coach Chris Laidlaw, former All Blacks scrumhalf, but will now have a fresh injection of skill and fire through their new man.
“We got to a really good place last season with Chris [Laidlaw] and I’m really pleased with the way that he developed our attacking game. Chris has since made the decision to give his full focus to his role as Performance Development Coach in the pathway system and we wish him all the best,” Easson said of Banahan’s arrival. “We wanted to bring in someone with that same kind of ilk, who has recently been involved in the game from a playing perspective and has the energy and rugby knowledge to take the players to the next level,” (source: John Evely of Somerset Live).
Play style
In this year’s Women’s Six Nations Championship, Scotland finished fourth, above Italy and Ireland, but managed to score just 94 points across their five matches – three of which were at home. While their defence is maybe something that has fans more worried, having conceded the second-worst 178 points, their tally of 94 was 177 points off of eventual winners England.
With that said, however, Scotland scored a respectable 14 tries over the course of the tournament and that ability to find the whitewash is only something that will improve with Matt Banahan at the wheel. Banahan knows where the try-line is and made a career of dotting down from almost any scenario imaginable. He remains one of the Premiership’s all-time record try scorers.
He had pace, power and an ability to read the game to match. At 6’7″ and over 110kg, the Jersey-born flyer could sniff out a chance to make something out of nothing better than most. That hunger for tries that he possesses will be useful for Scotland, as will his extensive trick-play knowledge after years of being Bath’s focal point at set pieces.
Additionally, Banahan played wing, centre and fullback during his time, making him experienced from almost anywhere on the pitch when it comes to attack. Stars such as Rhona Lloyd, Helen Nelson and Chloe Rollie will continue to progress under his guidance, while younger players, including the likes of Shona Campbell and Francesca McGhie, can kick on and potentially flourish in more than one position, giving Scotland a handful of strong options in the backline.
28 professional contracts were offered to women in Scotland just last December, which was a step in the right direction, but plenty more is left to be done to push this Scotland side, currently ranked ninth in the world, to where they deserve to be. Giving Banahan a chance to work with this already talented group could be yet another right step.
“I’m really excited to join the Scotland Women programme. I’ve been seeing the growth of the women’s game and from my experience of playing for so many years, along with my coaching experience, I thought there was no better place to pursue my coaching career,” Banahan said. “I’ve coached in academy programmes and with other teams and I thought this was the perfect progression to pass on knowledge from where my passion stems,” (source: Ultimate Rugby).
Scotland will spend the next six weeks in training camp before they play Spain at the end of September prior to the start of the WXV.
Photo credit: Charlie on Flickr, CC BY 2.0
