Jason Forster will be No 2 at new North Wales club
Dec 30 2009 by Our Correspondent, Western Mail
FORMER Wales international Jason Forster has reunited with ex-national assistant coach Clive Griffiths at the new Gogledd Cymru club in North Wales, which was launched at the beginning of this month.
Forster, 38, who was captain of the Dragons before moving on three years ago, is currently part-time head coach at English National Three South side Henley Hawks.
However, he will combine that role with travelling to Conwy and helping North Wales head coach Griffiths in a part-time forwards position.
The two worked together at Doncaster in 2006-07 season when Griffiths was director of rugby and Forster, capped once on Wales’ tour of Argentina in 2004, was his captain and player-coach.
Together the pair led Doncaster to their highest place in the English leagues – third in National Divison One – before Griffiths joined Mike Ruddock as an assistant at Worcester.
Forster will join ex-Gloucester skills and conditioning coach Rudi Meir in the set-up
Forster said: “This will be only on a temporary contract between January and May and Henley have given me permission to go up to North Wales and work there while I’m still working with them.
“It is exciting times to get something off the ground in the North Wales area. It is very early days, but there are a lot of positives coming out of the area and everyone will want to buy into what is happening to see it grow.
“Clive and I had a very successful time at Doncaster, when we took them to third in the league, so it is going to be a very exciting time.
“My duties at Henley and in North Wales mean there will be a lot of travelling, but there has been a lot of effort put in the north and this is a wonderful chance to move rugby forward there.”
The North Wales squad will be reinforced by 10 Canadian players who are arriving on January 6, the same day as a match between the side and a Presidents XV which will allow former Wales defence boss Griffiths and his staff can run the rule over the home-based players.
And head coach Griffiths, who is also on a short-term contract until the end of this season, said of Forster’s recruitment: “He will be my No 2. When he was at Doncaster, he was my player, captain and forwards coach.
“Now he will give me heaps of knowledge he has picked up over the years and his enthusiasm is in no short measure.
“He will give me a lieutenant I know I can trust and who will allow me to leave him with the troops and not worry while I do other things.
“He is also a good player. He only had one Welsh cap but should have had a lot more.”
The North Wales squad take on a Leicester Tigers Development at Parc Eirias, Conwy, on January 15 followed by further friendlies against Antiassassins, at Chester, on January 20, Glamorgan Wanderers on January 30 plus matches against the Scarlets, Worcester, Sale Jets, Leeds, Oxford University and Cross Keys by the middle of April.
