Tom Williams joins Newcastle Falcons as transition coach
The former Wales 7s international, 32, helped Jersey Reds to the RFU Championship title last season in his role as assistant coach following a playing career which saw him appearing for Cardiff Blues, Scarlets and Jersey.
Newcastle Falcons’ head of academy James Ponton said: “Tom is coming in as a transition coach which is a new position for us.
“It’s a good fit because he will work with our best under-18s players and our existing senior academy guys, just to help smoothen their transition from schoolboy rugby into the professional game.
“He is a backs and attack specialist so he will offer us a huge amount in those areas, and he will also be doing some work with our forwards who are coming through.
“He will assist with training at the club as well as going out and working individually or in small groups with our best under-18s, and part of his development will be assisting Mark Laycock with some of our first-team attack stuff.
“Tom has done very well over at Jersey in terms of transitioning from playing to coaching, and he was a key part of them winning the Championship title last season. We’re all excited about him starting with us and I think it’s a really positive move for the club.”
Relishing his impending move to Tyneside, Williams said: “It’s a really exciting challenge to help Newcastle’s best youngsters make that transition into being full-time professional athletes.
“I’ll be working with a really talented crop of young players and helping them make the step into full-time and first team rugby.
“Part of the job will be helping their self-awareness and game understanding on and off the field, and there’ll also be an element of working with Mark Laycock to help him with the team’s attack.”
Keen to thank Jersey for the role they have played, he said: “I’ve really enjoyed my time there, firstly as a player and then starting my coaching journey with them two and a half years ago.
“Jersey have always been an ambitious club. They’ve always had, and still do have impressive people and players involved. It was no coincidence they won the Championship last year, and that reflects the quality of the personnel at the club.
“It took some time to see how we wanted to attack to best use the players we had, and I’d like to think it was effective. We had a lot of young players around that senior academy age, and I think that will help me a lot coming into a role like this at Newcastle.
“I’m excited about the prospect of learning from new players and new coaches, and it’s a privilege for me to be able to make a contribution to such an exciting group of players with all the talent they have coming through at the Falcons.
“To have the opportunity to help nurture guys of that quality is a fantastic prospect, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”
