Rugby: New-look set-up for Weymouth and Portland

After a campaign where the Seasiders finished fourth in Dorset & Wilts One South, the club aim to improve on this success for next season.

Barry Ross-McKenzie has been named director of rugby and has been a part of the club for the last 50 years, starting off as a player and is still to this day known as one of the hardest-hitting number 10 Weymouth has seen.

On retiring, he has stayed involved with the club helping out anyway he found possible, from ground keeping to helping out with the mini and youth section.

However, he now feels he wants to use his wealth of experience to coach the senior sides so he can be back in the thick of the action.

Head of coaches, Nathan Parker, started playing for the mini and youth section until graduating to the senior sides, playing senior rugby for two decades.

Over the past few years, Parker has helped to set up and sustain the Weymouth & Portland and Dorchester ladies’ team, as well as coaching any youth section that has needed his help.

He is also helping run a O2 Touch Rugby session on a Monday evening up at the club which is growing in size and becoming a popular sport for rugby lovers who don’t wish to play the contact sport.

Defensive coach Anthony Cowburn came to Weymouth 12 years ago. He has had a helping hand in the club since playing in every senior side game since his arrival. He learnt his rugby whilst serving in the Army, playing and coaching rugby league, but it didn’t take him long to make an impact in a Weymouth & Portland shirt with his ferocious hard-hitting defence and brilliant offloading game, which saw him fast-tracked to the first XV.

Cowburn is hoping to turn the team’s defence into the strongest in the league.

Forwards coach Lian Berry is a local business owner and has been a playing member of the club for the last 20 years, racking up nearly 500 senior appearances.

He now wants to give back to the club the rugby knowledge he has picked up over the 20+ years.

Berry’s aim is to turn what’s always been one of Weymouth & Portland’s strongest assets, the forwards, into a pack that can dominate against any other in the county.

Backs coach Gordon Tye is another who has progressed from the mini and youth section, playing at the club since he was a teenager.

He also represented the county at under-16, 17 and 18 level and has recently retired from playing due to injury.

Not wanting to step aside from the game completely he pursued his coaching qualifications to give back to his boyhood club

Nathan Allan will be the team manager who is an ex-player that has Weymouth blood running him.

His grandad, dad, uncles and brother have all played and still are playing for the Seasiders.

Allan was forced to retire from the game due to injury, but his passion for the club makes him want to help the club thrive.

A club spokesman said: “Everyone in the coaching team are extremely excited to get the season started, with pre-season training beginning on Tuesday, July 11 at 6.30pm until 8.30pm at Monmouth Avenue,

“It is open to anyone that loves the game and who would like to play rugby either in the two senior teams or within our social team who mainly play games on a Friday evening.

“If you’re interested in getting involved with the club, check out the Facebook Page Weymouth and Portland RFC.”

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