Ryan Burrows and Stephen Roberts have agreed to join the Shaw Laners in an exciting new partnership as the club looks to progress back up the league standings.

Ryan has a fantastic career in the professional game but has also had experience of playing and coaching in the amateur game. He is currently contracted to Premiership team Newcastle Falcons (on loan to Doncaster Knights) and next season joins Championship club Coventry.

Stephen has an extensive playing and coaching background and started his playing career at fellow Yorkshire 2 club Wheatley Hills. He has gone on to have a diverse playing career, representing the Army at U23 level and also playing to high standard across the English and Irish leagues. More recently he has been plying his coaching expertise on the Player pathway as a coach with both the South Yorkshire ERDPP and Yorkshire County representative sides.

Ryan said how excited he is to be joining the club “I’ve always had a family connection to the club and know a lot about the place and how ambitious they are. I can’t wait to get cracking and hopefully help the club progress and develop.”

Stephen agreed “I am looking to forward to working with the guys. After seeing them play there is a lot of potential and talent at the club and it is about harnessing and working with that to bring out the best in them. Also it is a great opportunity to work alongside Ryan, especially since we have diverse experiences of the game in both coaching and playing. The main positive about myself and Ryan working together is that we are both focused in the same direction so its about sitting down and trying the different options and finding those that really challenges and motivates the players individually and as a team.”

Director of Rugby, Mark Smith, is delighted to have Ryan and Stephen on board as he said “I’ve been keen to get Ryan involved as he will bring a wealth of professional experience to the club and is keen to develop as a coach. When I heard of Stephen’s interest it was great to hear of his background and ambitions. I thought it would be fantastic to have two young, ambitious coaches working together and I’m delighted we’ve got both of them in place before the end of the current season. They have already shared their ideas and initial plans for pre-season with me and will meet the players after we play our last league game.”

The complete coaching & management team for the senior men is as follows:

Mark Smith - Director of Rugby
Ryan Burrows & Stephen Roberts - Head Coaches
Ed Norris - Coach
Chris Starkey - S&C Coach
Mick Hufton - 1st Team Manager
Terry Smith - 2nd Team Coach/Manager