Yahoo News 
Jeremy Manning keen to get most out of Harlequins tie-up
Jeremy Manning will link up with Harlequins director of rugby Conor O’Shea next month in a bid to bring some of their latest coaching methods back to their UAE namesakes.
Manning, the new Abu Dhabi Harlequins coach, only took his first training session with his charges on Monday night, but he’s now heading to London for three weeks to pick up some tips ahead of the new season.
“I’m about to go over to London to Conor O’Shea who’s invited me to do a bit of shadow coaching,” he explained. “Conor is one of the best coaches in Europe at the moment, so it’s a great opportunity for me to go there and ask questions; learn a few things about how he manages players and watch how he handles the sessions.”
The Irishman left London Irish in 2005 to join the Rugby Football Union as Director of Regional Academies, where his mandate was to help deliver future England internationals. He took up the director of rugby role at Harlequins in January 2010.
The advice won’t come free though, as O’Shea has asked that former Munster star Manning will play for Quins in the JP Morgan Sevens (English Premiership Sevens) as well as the World Club Sevens Tournament at Twickenham.
“It’s going to be a pretty full-on three weeks,” said Manning. “The World Cup is a two-day tournament. In our pool we have Auckland, some Russian side and another European side. But I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be back to pick up the training here on August 19.”
Manning took over from Chris Davies as head coach this summer on the back of losing three finals to Jebel Ali Dragons last season. The 27-year-old only joined the Quins last summer, but he was a very popular choice to take the position.
However, he sees himself as a work-in-progress and is pragmatic enough to understand that he will need assistance next season. He has built up quite a pool of resources during his professional rugby playing days and he intends to use every one of them in his quest to bring silverware back to Zayed Sports City after last year’s disappointments.
“I’ve played under some awesome coaches and picked stuff up from them,” said Manning. “I’ll pick more things up as I go along and I have a lot of contacts that I can go to if I have any questions.
“The likes of Declan Kidney, Alan Gaffney, Jim Williams, Tony McGahan – they’ve all been international coaches. I’ve spent a bit of time at Newcastle with the coaches there. Gary Gold, Graham Steadman as well. I’ve picked up a few things on the go with them.
“They all have their own traits – what they’re good at and not so good at. It depends on me, what I want to pick up off them. My main goal as a player/coach is to make the team consistent, and as soon as we achieve that we’ll start to win games and hopefully get to a couple of finals again this season.”
* For breaking news, follow us on @Sport_360 or find us on Facebook.
Related Content
