Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
I wanted to be out of my comfort zone and try something new. This was a great environment in which to learn and get better. I love working with Steve – he’s the most driven person I’ve ever met and he’s a fantastic coach.
He could just go and take his wide range of rugby league skills to Leicester because he’s got so much to offer. Eighteen years separate the appointments of Phil Larder and Paul Gustard as England defence coach but a strand exists between the two, because Gustard was a Leicester player during their glory years of 1999-2002 when Larder oversaw the meanest defence in the land. Being at Leicester is a little bit different but I tend to stay down one or two nights a week. It allows me to get a lot of work done during the evenings and spend some time with the other coaches who stay down here as well. We’re able to talk shop, so it’s been a really enjoyable journey so far for me. I came here for the challenge and I certainly got one.Clive had trusted me and let me do what I thought was right, so every time England trained they would do a little bit of one-on-one. It helped make them world champions. Now that all had to stop. If the players wanted to do it, they could come to me afterwards. I thought this was absolutely bloody ridiculous. Three or four would come regularly at the end of the session but to be honest they weren't the players I needed to work with." They are an exciting club with tremendous modern facilities and excellent potential. Last year under the guidance of Head Coach Richard Hill they developed a winning habit and secured promotion.”
I always think if you’re looking for top performers in sport then character is the most important aspect – and there is no doubt that Kevin has that in bundles. Lions Record: Appointed Commercial Director of the British & Irish Lions in 2002, he progressed to Acting CEO and finally on to CEO in February 2003. He coached England at the 1995 World Cup, where they defeated Australia in the opening game at Wembley, but ultimately lost the World Cup final to the Kangaroos. Larder was coach of Great Britain on their disastrous 1996 tour of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. The Lions did not win a match in New Zealand, and several players had to return home early to save costs. Former Great Britain coach Phil Larder is returning to rugby league with Keighley at the age of 74.
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Dave has been an experienced international referee with 29 test matches under his belt before retiring in 2004. He refereed in two world cups and is the only ref to have taken charge of two Heineken Cup Finals. He now works as a Referee Development Officer for the IRU. His experience and advice will be invaluable for the tourists in New Zealand. He started at Ryedale-York and was part of the sensational Keighley side that was denied promotion in 1995 by the unveiling of Super League. The 42-year-old insisted: “I don’t think a comparison with Shaun Edwards is too fair on Shaun – I think he’s far ahead of where I’m at. He’s probably been doing it twenty years now along with someone like Andy Farrell, who has been doing it for a long, long time now. Rugby league coaches landing jobs in union, usually to look after defence, is far from unusual – think Shaun Edwards (whose star has never aligned with England’s), Phil Larder (Woodward’s World Cup-winning assistant), Dave Ellis, Andy Farrell, Mike Ford, Les Kiss and Denis Betts.
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