Following the departure of Josh Barlow who is joining the Police Force in Hampshire, Southwell have appointed former Wales and British Lions International, Andy Powell as its new head coach. Club Chairman, Andrew (Spud) Smith explained ‘the club was very sorry to see Josh go as he had guided the 1st team to win promotion back to Midlands 2 East (North) in his first season. Needless to say, the current season has been a write off due to the pandemic, but the club is very pleased that Andy had become available following a recent family move to the area. He went on say that his two young sons will be joining the club’s junior section and Andy himself would also be part of the senior playing squad’.

After retiring from professional rugby in 2016 Andy took up coaching with his hometown club Brecon RFC, whose most famous victory was winning the WRU National Plate at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff in 2019.

The first training session with Andy took place last night with a great turn out, pics to follow.