McLatchie quits GRC top job

COLIN MCLATCHIE has resigned as Guernsey Rugby Club head coach. The man who succeeded Rob Box, the double-promotion and Siam Cup winning coach who stepped down in September, informed the club of his sudden decision this week after he thought things over during a weekend break in Switzerland.

'It is for several reasons, mainly business and family,' McLatchie said.

'When I go into something, I go in full-on and it is difficult for me to justify spending 20 hours a week concentrating on rugby when I have got a new business and a young family.

'I have a passion for the game and in a couple of years I will probably be involved again, but I cannot be a part of it at the moment.'

When he took on the job after Guernsey had lost their opening three matches in London Three South-West, McLatchie said that he felt there was a naivety about the level at which they are now playing that he wanted to eliminate.

It is understood that poor turnout at training frustrated him during his tenure, but in talking about his decision yesterday, McLatchie said, 'it was nothing particularly to do with the club'.

The now-departed coach informed chairman Ady Le Page and captain Andy Bailey of his decision in a letter and the players were informed at training on Tuesday.

'It certainly came out of the blue,' said Bailey yesterday, 'but we have just got to get on with it.

'The coaching until the end of the season has been taken over by John Colley and Steve Thomas. They will be assisted by the senior players.

'We have got Simon Sharrott who is a former semi-professional, the Welsh guys have played to a good level, so guys like that will have some input into training.

'It came as a shock, but what can you do? We have just got to look forward and not dwell on anything.

'It could be a good thing that we have got a game on Saturday to focus on,' he added.

Guernsey travel to Effingham & Leatherhead tomorrow and, following the departures of Willoughby Bloem and Francois Venter, there will be no South Africans in the side for the first time in a long time.

Bailey knows that although his side are ahead of the opposition in the table, this will be a tricky fixture.

'Since we beat them, I don't think that they have lost. They are on a bit of a roll and we have only had one away win, so it is going to be tough,

The skipper was one of the try scorers, along with Bloem, in last Saturday's 31-15 defeat to Camberley. New fly half Shaun Crabb added a conversion and a penalty.

There were positives to come from that game that Bailey wants to take into the Effingham fixture.

'We were up against a very good Camberley side,' he said. 'They played a very structured, 10-man game and they did it well.

'We were 14-0 down at half-time, got it back to 17-12 at one point and played some really good rugby in the second half, moving the ball out wide, but we had left ourselves too much to do.'