by Peter McKinney

DROITWICH Spa RFC have named former player Dan Protherough as the new man in charge of first team affairs at the Glynn Mitchell Memorial Stadium.

Protherough will be unveiled as the new head coach and introduced to the players this Thursday evening (June 22).

The new head coach, aged 31, has been charged with guiding the team to promotion from the Midlands Division Four West (South).

Protherough said: "I want to get the best out of the players and make sure we are challenging for promotion next season.

"I would like to think we could get as close as we can to the West Midlands Division Two, where there's a very high standard of rugby played."

"I will concentrate on working with the first and second teams at the club. It's quite an exciting time, there's a young team coming through.

"There's a lot of potential at Droitwich, the facilities there are very good and getting better."

The new coach, who lives in Selly, Oak, has been cutting his teeth at National League side Moseley RFC.

Protherough has spent nearly seven years as a rugby development officer and has acted as an assistant coach at the Birmingham club.

He said: "I've been working in the community side of rugby for quite some time and helping out with the coaching for a few years and I felt ready for a new challenge.

"I didn't feel confident enough to be a head coach at a club like Moseley but when Droitwich approached me I was very interested."

Dan, who also helped coach at Old Silhillians for the last few years, will work with Spa's Director of Rugby Jon Andrews and new captain Dean Goddard, to get the best out of the first team.

He also has fond memories of playing at Droitwich as a hooker in the late 1990s.

He said: "This is a nice club and I've still got a few good friends there like Nick Godfrey and Jon Andrews so I'm not coming in completely blind.

"I also want to put in a structure behind the scenes that means the club doesn't go back to square one when an important member of the coaching set up leaves."