After “23 years in professional rugby” it would take a lot for former Wales international Richie Rees to step away.

The scrum half played for Ospreys, London Irish, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Dragons, Swansea and Wales during his playing career before taking up a coaching position at Cardiff rugby as an academy and transition coach before becoming backs coach at the region.

Ultimately, the offer to become Director of Haberdashers’ Monmouth Sports Academy was “too good an opportunity to turn down at this point in my life”.

Rees admits he is “looking forward” to the challenge that awaits him as he attempts to grow the sports programme to become one which rivals the likes of Millfield and other top schools across the border.

Part of the draw is due to the significant investment being made by the school in all areas, particularly the investment in Sport, with work beginning on the new Eddie Butler Performance Centre, which will house the HMS Sports Academy set to open in April 2025.

The late Eddie Butler was one of many famous faces to walk the halls of Monmouth’s school, the list of alumni to compete in international sport is extensive.

Amongst those are Welsh rugby internationals Hallam Amos, John Gwilliam, Richard Parks and Keith Jarrett while Isabel Noel-Smith played for Bristol and England.

Rowers in the form of Robin Williams, Kate Callaghan, Charles Wiggin and Tom Lucy have competed at Olympics or Commonwealth Games, while cricketer Steve James played for Glamorgan and England, as well as athlete Sarah Rossiter, who competed for England in the long jump.

The ‘Welsh Millfield’

The new centre, in honour of former Wales captain Butler, means that the facilities available at Monmouth are “equal to, or better than anything available to the professional rugby regions in Wales” in Rees’ opinion.

The hope is that the new centre “will help the school to continue developing pupils and their sporting potential for years to come”.

The centre adds to facilities including two swimming pools, two sports halls, dance studios, eight tennis courts, a 4G pitch, the David Hitchcock pavilion, as well as top quality cricket and rugby pitches, Rees believes everything is ready to compete with the best.

“Chair of Governors, Lord Colin Moynihan and the senior leadership team, have made a huge commitment to the school and there has been a lot of investment,” says Rees.

“We start with a three-year plan, the goal for me is for the school to become the ‘Welsh Millfield’. To do that we need to do to recruit the right people, teachers and coaches and invest in the right facilities. If we do this, pupils will want to be associated with the school.

“We need to continue to improve the sports programme, we already have the academic programmes that parents want. All this will help to keep our talented individuals in Wales.

“There’ll be discussions with the WRU on how that can be achieved. For me, we must have a place in Wales which is comparable to the standards you can get in England.

“Events such as our hockey & rugby open day on Saturday the 31st of August, relationships with governing bodies such as the WRU and Welsh hockey will allow our pupils to receive some of the best coaching from within these organisations, alongside the excellent coaches we already have at school.”

The investment is “poles apart from where professional rugby is at the moment” due to budget cuts in the Welsh game and clubs going into administration in England, as well as the dissolving of Australian Super Rugby side Melbourne Rebels.

‘We also want to be competitive with the best schools in England’

Monmouth is becoming co-ed for the first time with the girl’s and boy’s schools joining, and Rees is looking forward to the opportunity of developing programmes for everyone’s benefit, including taking girls’ teams to the Rosslyn Park sevens.

While term starts in September, Rees has been busy in his first six weeks, attending Welsh exiles events, Henley Regatta, finalising plans for the Eddie Butler centre whilst also tweaking the sporting scholarship programme and looking at ways to widen the school’s recruitment process.

“I’ve come in with fresh eyes without an allegiance to anyone,” says Rees.

“I spoke to several of my former teammates who have gone into similar roles like former Scotland international Nick de Luca at Merchiston Castle School and former England international Paul Hodgson at Cranmore School in Surrey.

“Any changes made will be made with the best interests of the pupils and school in mind, we need to ensure we can improve and grow participation numbers in all sports, at all levels, within both girls and boys sport, this will ensure people want to be associated with us”.

“Sam Wells, our Director of Rowing, has been pushing for increases in our strength and conditioning provision and we need to have those quick, easy wins to improve the programme as a whole.

“We don’t want to be just the best sporting school in Wales, with the investment we have, we should be. We also want to be competitive with the best schools in England, or at least with those that are geographically close to us over the border.”

‘the key stakeholders need to understand that rugby is the main product’

Rees is “looking forward” to the task ahead of growing the sporting programme and helping their sports stars to realise their potential.

Following his 23 years, Rees admits he has “closed the door on coaching professional rugby now”, despite having had opportunities to continue his coaching career both in the UK and abroad.

“I don’t want to be running around chasing after kids on the pitch in 15 years’ time,” says Rees.

“I want to help and support the students make the most of the talent that they have, through succession planning and putting programmes in place that enable them to maximise their potential.

“I had opportunities to coach in Japan and across the bridge, but I knew that once those finished, I’d be wanting to come back and do something similar to the role I have now.

“I will still be involved in the professional game, commentating on games through the BBC, but ultimately, I have two young girls, and I didn’t want to move, I did enough of that in my playing career!

“Quite a few coaches I’ve come through the system with have stepped away from the game now which is disappointing. Hopefully, the key stakeholders need to understand that rugby is the main product, if we aren’t investing in the core product then rugby will frustratingly continue its decline in Wales.”

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