Ben Ryan heading to Wales

Fiji’s Olympic 7’s gold medal winning coach Ben Ryan has joined the Welsh Rugby Union in a consultancy role with immediate effect.
After coaching England sevens, Ryan joined Fiji in 2013 and guided them to a record nine tournament titles and since the Olympics he has been working with the National Basketball Association in America.
The 45-year-old has a wide-ranging remit to support and advise the WRU national Age Grade sides and his expertise will be made available to all teams outside of the national squad – which includes Wales U20s and U18s, Women’s national programmes and both the men and women’s sevens teams.
The WRU also announced that Peter Drewett has been appointed as the new performance coach manager and will join from a similar position with the Hong Kong Rugby Union on 1st March.
Drewett was at the RFU between 1992-2006 working in player development and managing England U21s, U19s, schools and youth sides at different stages, before becoming Exeter Chiefs director of rugby and head coach until 2009.
“I’m delighted to be joining the WRU in what is an incredibly exciting role and I am really looking forward to all that lies ahead,” said Ryan.
Drewett added: “Helping Welsh Rugby fine tune and further improve its production line of Welsh coaches is an exciting challenge.
“There is a wide array of existing coaching talent to be nurtured and we will also be reviewing the systems and structures in place, designed to safeguard and expand the future of coaching in Wales.”
Geraint John, WRU head of rugby performance said: “Ben Ryan’s appointment is a real coup for Welsh Rugby.
“He is a much sought after high performance coach, who has been courted around the globe since his significant successes with the Fijian national sevens side.
“We are particularly interested in benefitting from the meticulous attention to detail and major planning experience which Ben showed to maximum effect during the Olympics in Rio and we want him to cover the whole of our performance division from U20s, U18s to the Women’s game and, of course, his specific experience in 7s is a huge bonus.
“Ben will also be on hand to enhance our Coach Development program where he will support our coaches through his knowledge and experience of the world game. This will be done through a series of club visits and coach development sessions.
“Peter comes on board as a full time member of staff in March and his role is very much about safeguarding the future of the game in Wales and making sure we have the very best systems in place to not only produce the best coaches, but to ensure the continued progression of those coaches.”
WRU CEO Martin Phillips added: “Ben brings a wealth of experience and expertise to strengthen our performance department and his appointment will be of benefit to both players and coaches throughout Welsh rugby.
“He will primarily be engaged in helping teams with their strategic planning, but his contacts around the world game will also be invaluable as we bid to increase exposure and development for Welsh coaches throughout rugby and other sports in the immediate future.
“In Peter we are appointing a coach development manager who comes highly recommended and who has significant relevant experience of the role on a world-wide scale.”