Last Monday at the club’s AGM, the committee announced that Nick Biddlecombe would be the new head coach for the men’s section. With preseason training only a week away, we thought we’d take the opportunity to have a quick chat with Nick and learn a bit more about him and his plans for Warley in the upcoming season.

As it turns out, Nick has been a part of two of the biggest teams in the local area throughout his career. After being introduced to rugby at school, Nick decided to join his local club Dudley Kingswinford the following season to give him more opportunities to play. Whilst playing for both his school’s and his club’s teams, an injury forced him out of the game for a whole season. Luckily he was fully recovered just in time for a very educational Under 17s season back at DKs: “I learnt a lot about the social side of rugby that season, which is still a major part of rugby now…”

Nick’s next two years were spent playing for the most successful colts’ team in DK’s history; during his first season the team won the North Midlands Colts Cup. In his debut match at school Nick had played prop but he was quickly moved out to play flanker, then out to centre, then winger and he finally settled at full back during his final season with the colts. According to Nick, it was very beneficial to have had the opportunity to play a number of positions as it was a great way to improve his understanding of each position and the role each player has on the pitch.

After graduating from the colts, Nick played a season for Dudley Wasps and gained much more than just the team’s promotion. Nick said, “The Wasps were made up of young lads and some wise old heads. The year I spent with them I learnt so much from the experienced players around me.” From there, Nick broke into DK’s second team, travelling around the country playing against other National League second teams. “Each week was a different game but you had to play your best for every match to keep your place on the team and to push for a chance in the first team.”

At the start of the 2003/04 season, while the rest of us were watching Johnny Wilkinson win us the World Cup with that incredible drop goal, Nick was preparing to make his first team debut at the age of 20 against Darlington MP. He spent the rest of the season in and around the first team squad but unfortunately suffered another season ending injury, counting him out of the next season with the first team before it had even started. “After a frustrating season on the sideline I regained full fitness and started to battle it out in the second team again.” Nick spent nearly the rest of his time at DKs in the seconds with a couple of first team games here and there. During his time playing for Dudley Kingswinford, Nick averaged around 150 points a season, with his best season totting up a huge 256 points.

In the summer of 2012, Nick left DKs and joined Wednesbury RFC, helping his good friend Adam Blackford to coach the team throughout the season. “I made my debut for Wednesbury at Warley RFC on a very sunny August afternoon. I managed to bag myself a try and 5 conversions but I remember Warley for a fantastic set of lads, some very vocal supporters and a wonderful pitch.” In his only season at Wednesbury, Nick managed to score 196 points and then left the club to focus on a house move.

Whilst at DKs, Nick began coaching some of the social teams through their seasons and soon progressed on to teach the Black Country Under 15s country team. This tied in really well with his day job: as a PE teacher Nick has always been passionate about getting the students more involved in rugby, which has been a particular challenge given that the schools he’s taught at had never included rugby on the curriculum until Nick arrived to change all that. After years of hard work at his current school, Nick has a rugby team in every single year group, including the sixth form, all of which train and play every week. Last season five of his sixth formers were part of the Wolverhampton RFC Under 17s team that won the National Cup. “I enjoy seeing others enjoying the game of rugby as much as me, using my experience to help others. I have been coached by some great people and I hope to follow in their footsteps.”

When asked about what he considers some highlights of his rugby career, Nick mentioned winning the North Midlands Colts Cup and the North Midlands Vase. He also played for Herefordshire and Worcestershire at both colt and senior level and has been the top try and point scorer a few times in his career, as well as playing with some great players like Shaun Perry and Rhys Crane. In terms of coaching Nick is proud of leading a few of his school teams to play in the Staffordshire Cup finals.

Outside of rugby, Nick has been married for four years to his wife, Samantha, and together they have two children: Freya (3) and Elliot (18 months). They’re a very sporty family and enjoy the great outdoors as well as doing up the new house. Nick likes to spend time in the gym and also goes to watch Northampton Saints a lot.

As head coach of Warley, Nick is dedicated and determined to help the team achieve its potential. “From what I have already seen this is great club, with some fantastic facilities and lots of members who want the best for the club. My training techniques will be based around core skills, positional requirements, fitness, lots of playing game situations and everyone enjoying themselves. The league is theirs to be won but we need to work as one and focus. When it gets cold, we still need to train and keep to the game plan and most importantly believe.”

Nick has called for a player’s meeting to take place on Tuesday 24th June at 8.15pm in the club bar. He urges all senior men players to attend as he will discuss his training plans, training times and answer any questions players have about the upcoming season.

Preseason training will start on Saturday 28th June and continue every Saturday until the season begins. Nick recommends all players attend the club’s touch sessions on a Tuesday evening to keep up fitness in the preseason, until the team’s preseason training starts up on a Tuesday as well.