Former league star joins the Lions

The Lions have chosen a former rugby league coach to join their hierarchy for the three-Test series in Australia next summer.

Phil Larder's appointment as a specialist addition to Graham Henry's team for the six-week tour has been formally ratified and will be announced officially within the next fortnight.

It will guarantee the 54-year-old former teacher from Oldham a niche in history as the first coach to accompany British teams to Australia in both codes.

Larder, an assistant coach during successive Great Britain rugby league tours in the early Nineties, will be the Lions' defence expert, a role he has performed with increasing success for England since Clive Woodward created the job for him shortly after the ex-Leicester centre became his country's first fully professional coach three years ago.

Then an out-of-work league coach after spells at Widnes, Keighley and Sheffield, as well as Great Britain, Larder was in the process of buying a post office in Huddersfield when Fran Cotton's approach as chairman of the RFU's Club England sub-committee led to his inspired appointment as Woodward's pick for defensive expert.

His choice to do the same job for the Lions provides further evidence of how heavily the Lions will rely on English expertise. Since making Henry their head coach, the first from outside the four home countries, the New Zealander wasted no time choosing Andy Robinson, England's newlyappointed coach, as his No.2.

A union player with Loughborough and Sale before transferring to league, Larder refused to comment but his appointment is an open secret at Leicester where Henry watched him at work last week.

As a full-time RFU staff coach, Larder has worked with the English champions on a regular basis throughout their two seasons of back-to-back Premierships.

If the Lions fail to beat the World Cup holders in Australia and repeat their series win there 11 years ago, it will not be for the lack of any technical know-how.

The 37 best players in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will be backed by the most comprehensive management, coaching and medical team ever assembled for the quadrennial tour.

England, who could never have been accused of taking the seven-a-game side seriously, showed yesterday they mean business when it comes to competing with the best at the World Cup Sevens in Argentina in late January.

They appointed a full-time manager, Adrian Thompson, the 40-year-old former Harlequins and Wasps fly half and leading exponent of the sawn-off game.

His first international engagement will be on the official World Circuit at Dubai next month.

The deadline set by the 12 Premiership clubs for the RFU to resolve the tedious domestic wrangle passed yesterday without a murmur from Twickenham. So the clubs put the deadline back 48 hours until tomorrow, not that the rugby public at large seemed to give a hoot either way.

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