Shaun Edwards

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Shaun Edwards OBE (born 18 October 1966 in Wigan, England) is a former international rugby league player who is now head coach of London Wasps rugby union team and defence coach, on a part-time basis, of the Wales national rugby union team.

Edwards played at either scrum half or at stand off. He represented Wigan in the Rugby League Championship and the Super League between 1983 and 1996. He also played for the London Broncos twice and for the Bradford Bulls. Playing for Wigan, Edwards won a record eight Rugby League Championships and a record nine Challenge Cups.

Edwards represented England at the 1992 Rugby League World Cup and the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. He was also capped 36 times for Great Britain.

[edit] Biography

Edwards's father, Jack, played half-back for Warrington in the late 1950s/early 1960s, until a severe spinal injury ended his career prematurely.

His younger brother, Billy-Joe, played rugby league for Wigan Warriors until his death, in a car crash, in 2003.^[1]

Edwards was England schoolboy captain at both rugby league and rugby union, and had been hunted by several clubs.

[edit] Playing Career

Edwards signed for Wigan in a blaze of media coverage on his seventeenth birthday; a fee of £35,000 was reportedly paid to Shaun which caused a few raised eyebrows in the game on both sides of the world. He made his debut for the club at stand-off in the 30–13 home win against York on 6 November 1983, 20 days after signing for Wigan. He is the joint holder of the Wigan record for tries (10) in a game in the 78–0 rout of Swinton in the Lancashire Cup 2nd round in September 1992.

It was a County Cup record and record for a non-winger in any game. In addition he scored four tries in a game on four occasions and hat-tricks seven times. He was the leading try scorer in the 1991–92 season with a total of 40.

He played for Great Britain on 32 occasions with a further four from the substitute's bench, scoring 16 tries for his country.

Edwards went onto become the capatin of the most revolutionary team in Rugby League history as his Wigan side went 43 cup ties unbeaten, with Edwards playing in every round in the 8 successive Wembley victories.

Edwards was infamously very critical of Aussie Test Star Brett Kenny. He accused him of throwing a game agianst St Helens in 1985 after the Cup victory over Hull F.C..

His political dimension meant that on a Great Britain Lions tour, Edwards taped over the British Coal logo on the shirt - in support of The 1984 Miners Strike

In 1990, Edwards played through the 1990 Challenge Cup final with a broken cheekbone, ensuring he would enter Wigan folklore forever more. His partnership with fellow Wiganer Andy Gregory went down as the greatest in the clubs long and illustrious history.

He played in every one of Wigan's eight consecutive Challenge cup wins and won every honour in the game, making 452 appearances for Wigan. Edwards played his last game for Wigan against St Helens in the Challenge Cup defeat at Knowsley Road in 1997.

Edwards still stays strong to his Wigan roots. In a 2007 interview Edwards claimed that 'I almost had an heart attack' after Wigan famously come back to defeat Bradford Bulls in the epic 30-31 play off victory. He also claimed that one day he would come back to coach Wigan. [1]

He left to join the London Broncos after a fall-out with coach Eric Hughes. Edwards had wanted to spend some time with his expectant girlfriend Heather Small, but was refused permission by Hughes. When he returned to Wigan with the Broncos in May 1997, he got on the score sheet and was warmly applauded by the Wigan crowd to which he gave his customary nod of approval. After just a season in London, Edwards moved to Bradford Bulls but was soon on his way back to London where he represented the Broncos in the 1999 Challenge Cup final at Wembley.

[edit] Coaching Career

In 2001, Edwards joined London Wasps rugby union team as backs coach, taking over as head coach in 2005 after Warren Gatland returned to New Zealand. He was instrumental in helping Wasps win the English Rugby Union Championship three times in succession, in 2003, 2004 and 2005, and the Heineken Cup in 2004 and 2007. He is also in charge of the London Wasps academy side, who play in the Guinness Premiership A League.

Edwards recently teamed up with Warren Gatland again, after the latter was appointed head coach of Wales: he had been offered the job of coaching England's second-tier side, England Saxons.^[2], but preferred the position with Wales. Former England scrum-half Matt Dawson stated that it was "a crime" that England lost him to Wales and described him as "the best coach in the world".^[3]

[edit] Personal life

Edwards had a long-term relationship with M People singer Heather Small - with whom he has a son, James. Although no longer together, a key factor in moving to, and staying in, the south was that he could be close to his son. He turned down the job of coaching the Great Britain national rugby league team as it would mean being up north a lot of the time.

Edwards writes a regular column each Friday for the Guardian newspaper.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wasps profile
• Wales profile
• rugby league project
• Edwards takes Wales job