Gloucester Rugby: Nigel Davies backs Mike Tindall to be 'top-end coach'

FAST learner Mike Tindall wants to commit his long-term coaching future to Gloucester, Nigel Davies has revealed.

Gloucester rugby director Davies hailed player-backs coach Tindall's work ethic, backing him to carve out a 'top-end' management career.

Former England captain Tindall's contract expires at the end of the season, and Davies said informal discussions about next term are already underway.

Cherry and Whites boss Davies said he has put no pressure on Tindall's off-field development – but revealed the 34-year-old has taken coaching matters into his own hands.

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Explaining Tindall now has to work 'ten times as hard' as when he was just a player, Davies said: "I'm not pushing him too hard – the responsibility is mine, he's just got to develop his coaching over the next year – and I'm convinced Mike will be a top-end coach.

"We're in informal negotiations already – he still wants to play next year!

"But in all seriousness it's great that we're already talking about next year, and those discussions will certainly continue. It's a very difficult transition, I tried it myself for a year or two and Mike has done it very well.

"You're not only dealing with the conditioning, the weights and the rugby training, you're actually managing the group of players and the backs as well.

"Previewing opposition, reviewing performances, looking at developing his coaching as well. There's a huge amount of work for him to handle.

"I told him when he took the role that he would get paid a fraction of what he was paid as a player but work ten times as hard – and that's certainly been the case!

"He's termed backs coach but at the moment he's got a pretty floating role, all the coaches are engaged on a daily basis, we all work in each other's areas because that stimulates thought and ideas.

"But primarily he's working with the backs, he'll do attack and defence with the backs, and he'll have a view of other parts of the game as well."

Tindall's supreme strength of conviction came to the fore at last season's tail-end.

Surplus to requirements in Bryan Redpath's Gloucester, Tindall dug in heels and battled to extend his seven Kingsholm years. Fortune's favours fell his way when Redpath left and Davies was ushered in – with a revamped and extended coaching team.

One of Davies' first moves was to install Tindall as player-backs coach, a shrewd appointment given England's most-capped centre's Kingsholm influence on Gloucester's young, talented backline contingent.

As the season develops Davies said Tindall will assume more responsibility on the coaching front.

Delighted with the Otley-born midfielder's progress, Davies continued: "The first thing I had to do when I arrived at the club was meet with a lot of the senior players, Mike included.

"I had never met Mike before, but immediately he really impressed me with his understanding of the game, his knowledge of Gloucester and the club's players, and his passion for Gloucester too.

"Over the course of several meetings that became more and more apparent. I'm a big believer in keeping experience within the squad too.

"He captained the team in Mont de Marsan and the referee after the game came up to me and congratulated me on how well Mike actually engaged with him, and that comes from experience really as much as anything else.

"The work that he will eventually take over is all the stuff I can do anyway, although I've got a far broader remit than just coaching. But he's pushed the pace himself, he's the first into work every morning and he's the last to leave."