England Universities head into a two-match series with Wales Students starting this Sunday at Aberavon Harlequins, (K.O. 3.00pm) before the action switches to England and Stanningley’s Arthur Miller Stadium for the second bout which takes place on Saturday 6th July (K.O. 2:30pm).
The team, on the back of beating GB Police, UK Armed Forces and GB Teachers were crowned RFL President’s Cup Champions and are looking to take their form into the international series which replaces the usual Student Four Nations for this year.
On the coaching front the squad has undertaken some changes over the season as Kevin Deighton chose to step down as Head Coach to concentrate on his commitments at Hull Kingston Rovers and Adam Houston stepping up from Assistant Coach to lead the side.
“I’m very grateful to Kevin Deighton for giving me opportunity to work with him in 2023 and at the start of this year’s programme” said Houston. “I learned a lot from the programme in 2023 and whilst I wasn’t expecting to be in the Head Coach role this season, it has helped me in my development and to ready for the role.
“The players have been great to work with and they’ve responded very well to the changes in staff and to other disruption we’ve unfortunately had due to weather during the President’s Cup which saw us having to shuffle the games into a different order after two postponements. I’m really proud to be taking the team into the series against Wales at the weekend and it’s a huge honour which I am looking forward to!”
With Houston moving up to the Head Coach position, after a recruitment process, Mark Sloan has joined the squad as Assistant Coach.
Sloan, like Houston and several previous coaches of the England Universities, has been involved in the Student Rugby League pathway for many years, currently coaching Loughborough University and having coached the Midlands representative team and the South Origin side for a number of years.
“Its been great to move up into the England set up and I’m very grateful for everyone for giving me the opportunity” added Sloan. “Its been quite challenging coming into the programme half way through but everyone has been very welcoming and helping me to get up to speed and I’ve been able to contribute and I’m looking forward to adding more as we go into the Wales games.”
Both coaches will be reviewed at the end of the year before a final decision is taking on proceeding into 2025.
“On behalf of all the players, coaches and staff, both past and present, I’d like to thank Kevin Deighton for the 6 years of service he gave to England Universities” added David Butler, Team Manager. “He was a supportive Assistant Coach to Richard Tate during 2018 and 2019 and supported all of us through 2020 and 2021 when we couldn’t run as a result of the pandemic.
"He relished the opportunity of taking on the position of Head Coach in 2023 which resulted in a President’s Cup and Four Nations double. He has made a phenomenal contribution and many people are proud to know him as a friend as a result of his involvement and we wish him good luck with his role at Hull KR.”
