Clements steps up to Wales role

Wales Rugby League have named Dan Clements as its new Head of Performance following the exit of Anthony Seibold.

Seibold opted to return home to Australia last month, but Clements, an assistant coach at Championship 1 club South Wales Scorpions, will step up to fill the void.

Clements said: “This is a good opportunity for me as this kind of role is something that I really enjoy. Here in Wales we have an extremely large pool of talented players and it’s very satisfying to see a player progress from all the development programmes that we have running to see them reach their full potential. Young Welsh players are naturally gifted and they want to play rugby at the highest level, the programmes we are putting in place gives them a chance to achieve that goal.”

Clements was introduced to the sport ten years ago and played for UWIC University and Cardiff Demons, before founding the now Newport Titans.

He recruited and coached current Super League players Lloyd White, Gil Dudson and Elliott Kear while in charge of the Celtic Crusaders Colts side, which won the Conference National Grand Final in 2008.

Wales Rugby League General Manager Sash Stosic said: “It is a natural progression for Dan to take this role. He was part of our performance structure alongside Anthony Seibold and has been committed to Rugby League in Wales for the best part of a decade. What impressed me was his vision for what performance looks like for Rugby League in Wales and his understanding of our current structure. His approach to engaging people into our development programmes has been outstanding.”